Namale: The Dragonballs of Planet Motto
by Tashhhh
Summary: A vain young scientist finds an abandoned saiyan girl in the woods. They discover the legend of the dragon balls and go on a quest to find all seven of them! They meet friends, enemies, and a pesky stalker, while a pair of mages from the nearby Planet Salani work to prevent a tragedy from happening.
1. Chapter 1

Author Notes: This is a fan fiction. It is not created in association with any of the owners of the Dragonball franchise.

This story does not use fanon.

This story does not contain any DBZ characters. It takes place somewhere in the same universe as canon, and is kind of based on Dragonball, but on a different planet, with similar, but different characters, and more grils.

I finally wrote an entire long story! (^_^)

I wish I could make this into a comic, but I don't know if it's good enough to bother.

* * *

><p>On a small blue-and-green marble, floating through space, far, far away…<p>

A small saiyan girl stood in awe before the hoard of treasure in the room she had just come across. Foods of every sort lay stretched out on long, polished stone ledges. She saw hoards of colorful vegetables and fruits, and the scent of cooked meats made her mouth water. She longed to taste some of everything, and she flew forward, about to try some fat bird legs...

She opened her eyes suddenly and found herself slightly cold, in a curled up position, hugging her tail between her legs. In her dream she was wearing some kind of soft, colorful material, but in reality she was naked, lying on bare ground. She must have kicked her fur blankets off during the night and woken up.

"Mmaaaaw," she yawned. The girl decided to just wake up since it was almost bright out anyways. She shivered as her hands and knees touched the cold ground not covered by her blankets, and picked one of them up to hug herself with.

"Hmmm!" She yawned as she stood up and stretched out her tail behind her. Her small triangular shelter was made of logs leaning against each other at the top. Animal hides on the roof, and a ditch dug in front helped keep it dry during rainstorms. She stepped to the entrance and sighed as she looked up at the night sky. There were few clouds in the sky that night. The moon was perfectly round and reflected a strong light into her eyes. She felt a shiver throughout her body as her pulse sped up and all the hair on her body stood rigid. The girl gasped, and dropped her blanket, losing herself in the mysterious light of the moon.

* * *

><p>Nearby, a 16-year old girl was snuggled up inside her sleeping bag, when she bolted up for some reason.<p>

"Huh… it's still dark. I wonder why I—"

RRROOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRR! The young woman froze. Her heart began to race and a bead of sweat rolled down her face. "W-what was that?!"

The ground seemed to shake and she heard various loud splashes and stomps. She was terrified, and she pulled her sleeping bag tight around her, her eyes nervously scanning the wilderness that she could see through the window of her tiny 1-woman tent.  
>"N-now Ruby, think rationally… It's probably just a bear. O-of course. Bears don't normally attack humans, r-right? I left all my food in the boat, so if I just stay here I should be—" CRASH!<p>

"Eeeek!"

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, the guilty creature ran, flew, and swam around. Animals of every sort awoke and scattered about. The birds flew away to the perimeter of the island, while the rodents scurried into their deepest holes. The fish swam for survival as they were tossed about in giant waves that crashed into trees and rocky cliffs, and washed up on the shallow beaches.<p>

A massive, really big, giant ape sat on the shore of the lake near her shelter and played with boulders in her hands, smashing them together and grinding them into gravel on the ground. She was getting pretty bored, and waiting for the moon to set so she could go back inside her makeshift house. Just then, she sensed a faint energy in the surroundings that she found interesting, as it felt pretty different than the animals on the island that she was used to hunting. She hopped up, and flew over the trees towards where the energy was coming from.

She spotted a small colorful object on the ground… It was blue, and looked like a tiny house made out of skin. Then she held back a gasp as she saw the creature in front of the structure. It was a human! She had long, bright-red hair. She was wearing clothing – a pink vest with a zipper and several pockets, blue jeans short-shorts, and black ankle boots. She was facing away from the saiyan, who, despite her giant size, landed silently, and crouched down to get her face closer to the ground in order to see the human clearly.

* * *

><p>"Well, whatever that was, I guess it's gone!" the teenager hesitantly decided that the danger was past, and reasoned that she wasn't going to be getting back to sleep. Besides, the faintest traces of dawn were approaching, so she pulled her vest jacket on over her undershirt that she slept in, put her boots on, and crawled out of her tent, bringing out her backpack and a device that looked a little like an old Nintendo Gameboy.<p>

"Now I can track down this signal! I'll just pack up my—" she suddenly tensed up with her hand in the air in front of her, grasping the stake she had just pulled out of the ground. She heard a soft rustle of branches and grass behind her.

"—tent…?" she croaked, slowly turning her head to look behind her. She found herself looking into the glowing red eyes of a gigantic were-monkey. The moonlight made it easy to see every curvature of the creature's face, whose snout was as tall as her entire body. She felt a warm breeze from its nostrils. It seemed to be grinning maliciously at her. Her eyes widened, as did her mouth.

"Grawr," It said to her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
>The teenager screamed and bolted away. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she ran as fast as she could away from the scene. It only took 2 seconds for the giant ape to decide to react. A gigantic hand planted into the ground by the fingertips in front of her, like a wall. The force knocked the human onto her butt, still screaming as another giant hand cupped in front of her, scooping her up into the other hand.<p>

"Hnggr!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! PUT ME DOWN YOU FREAK!" She was afraid to move around and fall out of the hands, since she had been lifted pretty high up already. The curious ape was trying to get a good look at her. "Hey! Did you hear me?! I said, put me down! Down!" She gestured as well. The giant ape seemed to pay no attention to her words, and started to walk away from her campsite, but a few moments later its eyes suddenly widened a bit in surprise, and it did put her back down. The morning sun had risen, and the fearsome monster began to shrink. The redhead caught her breath as she watched the fearsome monster turn into a very small little girl with shaggy black hair.

"Na?" She sat on her bare bum and looked up at the redhead.

"W-w-what are you, you freak?" The city girl backed up defensively. "You're one of those strong mutant people... oh, what did they call them?" Her foot fell on her tent, and she lost her balance, falling over on it. "Huwah! Oh, that's right, a saiyan..."

"Na?" The naked child ran over to her.

"What do you want? Are you alone out here?" The kid just tilted her head and made a confused sound. "Is 'nah' all you can say? Do you understand me? No, that's just wonderful. I need to pack up my tent." The older girl started pulling the stakes out of the ground. The child saw what she was doing and pulled one out for her, sniffed it, and then handed it to her. Ruby frowned and snatched it out of her hands. The teenager stuffed her tent into its casing, and put it in her backpack. She pulled out a rectangular handheld device with a screen and a few buttons on it. She flicked a switch on the side which turned it on. After studying it for a minute, she turned off to start walking in a direction. "Nah!" The wild saiyan perked up and ran after her to walk by her side.

"Shoo, shoo! Don't tell me you're going to follow me?! Get lost kid, do I look like I have time for babysitting?" The kid didn't understand her, of course, and kept following her. "Sigh, it can't be helped. I'll just ditch her when I get off the island." The wild saiyan was curious as to why the teenager's face was buried in the handheld machine. She grabbed her wrist and pulled her down a bit. "Nuh!"

"H-hey, watch it! I built this radar with my dad! Don't break it!" She scolded and smacked the child on the head.

"Na?"

"This is my summer homework here. I gotta study the cause or source of the unique radiation that we discovered. It's the weirdest thing!" Her mood started to lighten as she started talking about science and rambled on. "The signal points to seven small, distinct sources throughout this planet, and we haven't the slighest idea why! Apparently he's too busy with work, so I have to journey around the planet in the forest because I'm 'young and healthy' or something. I'll bet he's hardly working this summer as well!"

"Na?"

"This signal gets more specific the closer I get... as if the source was a small object... I just passed it? Uwah!" The teen cried out as she tripped on something under the leaves on the ground. She fell on her face to the side of the saiyan, who noticed a small object come rolling between her legs, and picked it up with her tail.

"Nah?" she held a small object in front of her, wiping some wet dirt off of it. It was a pearly white orb, no larger than a billiards ball. There were two small purple stars in the center that seemed to be easily visible no matter which angle she turned it.

"Thanks for your concern, I'm just fine!" the redhead grumbled sarcastically as she stood up and brushed herself off. "Nah!"

"Give me that! What is this? Wait, what if..." she trailed off, and brought the radar in front of her eyes, testing the location by holding the ball and the radar and moving around. The dot on the screen moved with her, confirming her hunch. "This object is what was detected by my locator. I think, maybe... there could be more of these things at the other dots? How strange, it must be some sort of magical artifact. But the energy is not detected by a scouter..."

"Nah!" The saiyan girl grabbed her elbow excitedly. "Ah!" The teenager yanked her elbow up. "I need to get out of here... The sooner I get rid of this weirdo, the better. Oh, no... No, you're not going to follow me, are you?" She groaned. "Naah?"

"You're really annoying! Don't you have any clothes? Yeah, clothes!"

"Yeah, cloves!" the girl repeated.

"Cloothes," the teenager yanked on her vest for emphasis. The child stood for a moment and stopped following her, then suddenly darted away.

"She's gone? Yes!" She broke out into a sprint towards the shore of the island. Just as she got to the beach, the saiyan child returned, and flew down in front of her. She huddled a fur blanket around her body to cover it up. "Ah! Oh, there you are again, eheh... I, uh... That's very nice kid, I need to get going. Gotta finish my 'homework' so I can make it to all the hot college parties!"

"Nah!" The saiyan child shouted in excitement, ignoring the older girl and flying ahead. She hopped into the boat parked on the shore, and stepped around in it, tapping parts of it in delight.

"Wait up pint-size! That's mine!" The redhead yelled, running after her! "I swear to god, don't you dare break anything! Get out of there, come on," she tried to tug the girl's arm and get her out of her boat. Just then, something flew down from the sky from the direction of the ocean, leaving a smokey trail. It landed behind the two girls and made a big explosion.

"Aaaah!" The girls cried out as she fell onto the sand. "What's going on!?" They looked out towards the ocean and noticed a larger boat out in the water.

"Nah!" The kid shouted excitedly at the other boat. From the deck of the larger vessel, several men appeared, looking out. "How you doin', city girl? Noticed you spending lots of cash back at the harbor! Why doncha come on board and spend some on us? Oh, and hand over the keys to that motorboat too." The saiyan hopped into the air and flew towards the men.

"What are you doing, those are pirates, you idiot! Thieves! Bad men!"

She did a little tumble in the air and looked over the men. "Na?"

"Hey, what's with this little brat?"'

"I dunno, get rid of it!" One of the men opened fire on her with a handgun. A few of the bullets hit, and she cried out and fell into the water. "Geh!" The teenager cried at the morbidity of the scene. Then, the girl shot back up out of the water, leaving her cover behind, so she was naked again, but mostly unharmed. The bullets left a few bruises on her. "Hrrn!" She grunted angrily at them.

"Wh-what, why isn't she dead?!" The redhead gawked. The pirates had a similar reaction. "It's still just a kid! I got this, bro!" said a rough-looking man with short blond hair and several days of stubble. The girl locked eyes with him and before the man could react, she was in front of his face. She kicked him in the chin at full power. The man flew across the deck, and hit the back of his head hard on the opposite railing, barely saved from falling overboard by the dented metal, but instantly losing consciousness.

The angry saiyan did not hesitate and moved to perch on the rail. She quickly took a glance at the two other pirates and rushed a kick to the chest of a thinner, brown-haired one who was drawing a gun. She followed it up with a punch to his face, putting him out of the fight. Meanwhile, she sensed the third one approaching her from behind. He made a grab for her tail, but she grabbed his wrist instead, crouching down and flipping him over onto the other man. Still holding on, she hopped backwards and flipped him back over the rail of the boat, dropping him into the water.

She felt for energies around the ship, but she sensed none besides the four humans she could account for, so she hopped into the water and swam back to the beach. The teenager was rethinking her opinion of the child, _She's really strong. Maybe it would be useful to have her along to protect me from guys like that._ "Nah?" the child was standing in front of her and looking up with innocent eyes that seemed to be trying to guess what she was thinking. _Then again, she's like freaking Tarzan._

"Can't you say anything else other than 'nah'? How about a name, huh?"

"Nah?"

"Ugh, no. Sigh. Like this. I'm Ruby. Ru-bee," she gestured to herself, patting her chest for emphasis.

"Ruubee!" the kid repeated, putting her hands on Ruby. "Yes, Ruby." The girl blinked and thought for a second. She moved her hands to her own chest, and said. "Nah..."

"YOU CAN'T NAME YOURSELF 'NAH'!"

"Na... Nama?"

"That's a bad name for a girl! How about 'Namale'."

"Namale!" she repeated, seeming to like it. _Not bad, not bad at all_, Ruby thought of her name generating abilities. "That's your name now, Namale. You can change it later when you understand things better." She put her backpack down into her boat and started pushing it into the water. The child ran up and grabbed the edge of the boat. Ruby looked at her and hopped into the boat. Namale lifted the pointed end of the boat about an inch off of the sand, and pushed it towards the water, dropping it with a splash. She then used flight to land inside the boat with a 'thud'. "Careful!"

Ruby pulled the ignition cable, which started the engine on her third try. The little saiyan yelped in surprise when the engine roared to life. Ruby looked at her, a glint forming in her eyes as she pivoted the boat around so that the tip pointed away from the shore. Without warning, she accelerated the boat straight up to its top speed, and they were off! Namale knelt down on the floor and gripped the sides, frozen like a terrified cat. As the boat reached full speed, she gradually sat up, and put herself onto the seat. Straightening her back, she looked around in amazement, feeling the wind whipping on her hair.

"Nah..." she said to herself, looking at the wake of the boat and the vast ocean surrounding them on all sides, trying to see her island which was already far out of sight. Ruby threw something at her face. Namale picked up a soft white cloth. "It's called a T-shirt. Put it on over your head, like this." Because Ruby was adult-sized, the shirt was oversized on Namale and did the job of covering key areas. Ruby went back to driving the boat while the saiyan felt the softness of the foreign material on her body, amazed. Suddenly, she became very interested in what Ruby was doing. "Nah!" she prodded, as if she wanted to drive the boat.

"No no no... don't touch that. Sit still will ya, I need to check our direction. Namale began to experiment with the lever behind Ruby's back while she got out a device from her backpack that looked like a screen attached to a headphone with a keypad on it, and flipped the earpiece around so that the buttons were in front (like a tablet).

"Nah?"

"This is a scouter. I have the iScouter 4 with 5G and GPS, so it's easy for us to navigate on the ocean. Hey, hey," she shooed the girl's hands away from the control. "A little to the right," she mumbled as she adjusted the direction. "Perfect."

"Ah!" Namale pointed into the air where some seagulls were flying around.

"They're just birds."

"Nuh!" She hopped out of the boat and started chasing the seagulls in the air. "I'm not slowing down for you!" The saiyan was not listening and shot an energy blast at a bird that was a ways in front of her. Ruby watched in surprise. The girl caught the dead bird in the air and hopped back into the boat. "What do you think you're doing with that—eww…" She looked away in disgust as Namale started plucking the feathers off of the bird and cleaning it with her bare hands, then setting it on the metal floor of the boat and roasting it by induction using her energy. "I immediately regret my decision," she complained, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

The girls arrived at a harbor. Ruby parked the boat and Namale hopped out onto the dock, still munching on a seagull leg. A bit of blood from the meat had gotten on her shirt. "Ugh, you are disgusting." They went inside a small shop. Namale ran around looking at every single thing in the store while Ruby checked in with the rental guy. "Um... is that child alright? She looks a little..."

"She's fine," the teenager insisted, and hastily left the register to get her new companion.

"Ugh, Namale. I can't walk around with you dressed like that, you're embarassing me. Come on, we're going shopping."

The girl didn't really understand, but she skipped happily after Ruby.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't plan on buying you stuff as a habit, but you need some dire essentials, such as real clothes."

"Cloze!" she repeated.

They walked around the downtown mall of the bustling harbor town and ended up in a sports store that had caught Namale's eye. Ruby figured they should have most of what they needed to buy in one place anyways.

"Well, this is a good place to get you a backpack… Really, that color?" After Namale got a white t-shirt and a white tank top, Ruby had her hold them along with a magenta backpack while she looked around for something. "A major city like this should really have them… Excuse me ma'am, do you carry any specialty items for people with tails?"

"Yes, please come this way." They went up an escalator and ended up in one of the corners of the store, where a sign hanging above designated the section for 'Warrior Equipment'. There were expensive looking modern armors and melee weapons displayed on the walls, but more importantly, there were several racks and stands of specialized bottom clothing.

Ruby looked around for Namale and found her missing. She hastily looked around. "Excuse me ma'am, is that your child up there?"

"Huh?" The redhead looked up towards some inaccessible windows that were open to an ornamental balcony on the outside of the building. Namale was creeping along the sill like a cat, with her eyes fixed on a group of pigeons that were hanging out on the railing outside.

"HEY, GET DOWN FROM THERE!" Ruby yelled. The child turned towards her suddenly, causing the birds to scatter away. "Nah?"

"Don't you 'nah' me! Come on, get down. Down!" She pointed down with her finger.

"Eek," the store attendant jumped when Namale leaped down from a height that would cause injury to any normal human child. "That is _not_ how we do things in the civilized world. I will get you some food after this," Ruby said while dragging her towards the clothes.

She picked out some underwear for her. The package boasted something about them being both soft and stretchy. Then she got her a pair of purple shorts and a pair of blue pants with an off-white stripe. They were simple, sporty clothes with drawstrings. "Naaah! Clothes!" Namale said in surprise, as she was inspecting a legless black spandex bottom piece, but the tail hole was very wide. "Those are for the salani folk. Come here, try this on."

Namale said, "Huh?" as Ruby strapped a pair of goggles over her head. They were lightly tinted yellow, and were not too tight or too bulky, but did cover the sides of the eye area completely. "These will prevent you from inconveniently turning into a giant monkey."

They heard the store attendants gossiping as they passed by. "I think that child is not wearing any underwear."

"Do you think she is handicapped?"

"I don't think that young lady is a family member of hers."

"Maybe we should call child services?"

"Excuse me?!" Ruby interrupted them. "Why don't you mind your own business!"

They also went to the shoe section and ended up buying a pair of simple black fighter shoes and a few pairs of white ankle socks. Namale left the store wearing the white t-shirt and purple shorts.

They went to an Italian food buffet for lunch. Ruby made sure that Namale took plates of food to their table, instead of eating from the trays. She sat down and tried her first bite of pepperoni pizza. "Mmmm!" she moaned, and tears streaming down her face as she chewed it, because it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted in her life. She tried some of the chocolate cake she picked up. "Mmmmm!" Some pasta with pesto sauce. "Mm, mm!"

"I guess you've never eaten good food before. It's good, isn't it?"

"I' good!" she nodded vigourously through a mouthful of garlic bread.

* * *

><p>"Nah... Ruby!" A bored Namale complained loudly in the middle of the library, tugging on the older girl's arm. "Shhhh, you're supposed to be quiet in the library," Ruby chastised in a whisper. "People are trying to work here… like me." She was flipping through a thick textbook and a few other books lay open around here and there, as well as a webpage on the screen of her scouter. A library staff member came over and spoke to Namale. "Hi sweetie, would you like to try playing some computer games?"<p>

"Namale!" she shouted at her, patting her chest.

"Shhh!"

"Namale..." she said, quieter. The lady showed her the computer, and the girl hopped into the chair, inspecting the screen closely.

"Nah?" she pointed at the icons on the screen with her fingers.

"That's a game called 'Dragon Ball Quest'."

"Nah?"

"That says 'Defense of the Planets'."

"Nah?"

"It says 'Type to Win'."

"Nah?"

"It says 'The Namekian Trail'."

"Nah?"

"That's Pinball, don't you know how to read?"

"…No?"

"She doesn't understand much language," Ruby looked up from her work and explained to the librarian.

"Look, your friend seems like she's going to be busy for a while, why don't we learn a little bit in the meantime? It's not that hard!"

* * *

><p>"Namale, I've found out something <em>amazing<em>!" Ruby dragged Namale away from the library to a park bench and pulled out her notes. She glanced around as if checking for eavesdroppers. "This little ball that we found may be something… legendary. Now if it's true, this is something called a…" she whispered, "_Dragonball_. I read that they come from a planet called… _Namek. Now, the legend goes like this: if you gather all seven dragon balls, the eternal dragon will grant you one wish._ Or it might have three wishes in a different version."

"Nah... wishes?"

"I think it's too much of a coincidence. There are six other readings on my radar, what else could it be? Oh, this is just incredible! I'm going to wish to never grow old!"

"Uh... Let's go!"

"You got that, squirt? I call dibs on the wish! And you have to keep this a secret from everyone we meet, ok?"

"Ok?"

Ruby rented a car and they were soon far out in the country. Namale stuck her head out the window like a dog, and tried to fly with the car, but it was a bit too fast and Ruby had to slow down so she could get back in.

"Un! Ball!" Namale was playing with the radar as they drove. Ruby had somehow gotten her to understand that the dots on the screen represented balls. She turned down roads until they were closer. They were driving around some rolling hills and farmlands. "Let's go on foot from here." She parked the car a bit to the side of the road, and they started trekking through some tall fields of sugar cane.

"Tasty, nah!" Namale chomped on a stalk as they walked.

"Don't eat other people's crops! Kyaah!" she jumped up and hopped back, tripping over Namale. "SNAKE!"

"Snake?" Namale popped up from under Ruby, causing her to roll back towards the snake.

"SNAAKE!" she yelled again.

"Snaaaaake!" Namale yelled, and grabbed the snake, flash-roasting it with a blast from the hand that wrapped around its neck.

"Mmm… snake!" She munched happily, as Ruby walked on ahead of her, trying her best to focus on the radar and not how grossed out she was by Namale's hunting habits. _At least it's food I'm not paying for_, she thought with a grimace.

"Alright now, it should be right around here," the red-head announced, looking around on the ground. The two girls shuffled through the stalks, examining the area, but they did not find anything.

"It could be buried," Ruby suggested. Namale was patting the ground, when her she put her wrist down for support again and it fell through a hole. "Aah!" she cried in surprise. But then she started digging her arm further down into the hole, trying to feel around. "Hmm, big place down... ah! Soft thing!"

"Is it a mouse?"

"Nrrr, is heavy! Heavy! Nnaah!" she stumbled and fell back onto her butt. Her hand came up half-pulling, half resting on top of a large paw the size of her entire body. The ground around them started to crumble and break apart, held together by sinews of plant roots that were stretching and snapping under stress. A tan, furry 4-fingered paw with black fingernails emerged from the rumbling ground. Ruby immediately turned around and ran very far back. Namale tried a punch on the fingers, which seemed to anger the whatever-it-was, causing it to come up faster. As she tried to fly away, dirt and rocks fell on her, pushing her down in tumbles of damp earth as a giant beast emerged from the depths.

It created a massive pit in the ground from which a gargantuan rodent crawled out of. A muffled cry was heard as it stepped on the tiny saiyan on its way out. It stood up on its hind legs and towered over Ruby, who had frozen up in fear, backing away slowly. The creature was a prairie dog nearly as tall as an oozaru, and certainly as massive.

"HUMAN WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED MY SLUMBER," it spoke in a coarse, rumbling growl. "YOU COME TAKE MY TREASURE?"

"Treasure, what treasure, we're just walking around," Ruby stammered as she backed up. Her heel snagged a taut piece of thick grass and she fell backwards on her butt. The pouch on her backpack was not zipped up too tightly, and the dragonball came rolling out of it behind her.

"HUMAN BROUGHT MORE TREASURE! I THANKS YOU FOR YOUR PRESENT" Prairie Dog reached behind Ruby and picked up the tiny white ball with his squirrel-like paw, while the teenager dared not move a muscle.

"Mouse, naaah!" came a little girl's shout from behind him.

"I AM PRARIE DOG, NOT MOUSE!" As he turned his body around, something small and hard was thrown straight into his eye. "GYAAAAH!" he cried, squinting and covering his eye with both hands, dropping the dragonball he was holding as the other one rolled down his face and bounced off. Namale swooped around catching both of them and throwing them back at Ruby where they hit her in the face because she could not catch. Heedless, she yelled, "Back Ruby!"

"LITTLE HUMAN HURT ME! HUMAN HAS TAIL…?" He paused, trying to figure out the correct species designation for Namale, but he was struggling. Mercilessly, the girl used his distraction and flew at full speed with a kick to his sensitive nose. Ruby said, "She's a saiyan!" The monster yelled in pain and fell backwards, now clutching his nose with one paw. Namale followed up with a kick to his groin area which was now exposed from his position. She was flying and jumping around, throwing kicks and punches at the monster rodent. She figured he was good and beat, so she hopped away for a breather. "Namale, sane! Sane strong, you mouse!" she said with her hands on her hips.

"I'M PRAIRIE DOG!" the giant thing sobbed. "SAIYAN TOO STRONG! HEEEEELP! FRIEENDS HEEELP MEE!" He smacked his short tail against the ground as he spoke, creating a rumbling series of tremors in the area.

"Nah?"

"W-what's he doing?!" Ruby whined. There was a hisss of the wind rustling through the tall fields, and an eerie sound like a crowd of high-pitched chattering grew in volume around them. Namale barely reacted in time, pivoting on one foot, swishing her tail around to her other side, dodging a bite from a normal-sized prarie dog. From behind her the human teen let out a shrill shriek and stood up, hopping back from a pack of about 10 prarie dogs snarling up at her menacingly with glowing red eyes. Namale also cried out and fell to her knees, feeling a sharp pain on her tail. Another prarie dog had leaped and gotten a bite on her. When she went down, another jumped and bit sharply into her leg. Ruby managed to gather her senses long enough to run up and kick the two prarie dogs off of Namale with all her might. "Namale, fly!"

"Aaah," Namale was still sitting, clutching her injured tail and calf. "NAMALE, FLY NOW!"

"N-nah?!" the little girl saw that even more rabid prairie dogs were emerging from the bushes and closing in around them. Her leg and especially her tail hurt like hell, but her instincts took over and she grabbed Ruby roughly around the waist and blasted off into the air.

"Can you kill the big one?"

"Nah kill mouse… hands" there was some fumbling and uncomfortable wriggling but Ruby managed to climb around onto Namale's back, holding on with her own arms and legs. Namale charged up a good powerful energy ball and shot it as fast as she could make it go towards the middle of the giant prairie dog's body. It ripped through the beast in the middle, fatally wounding it and creating a big bloody mess on the ground.

"Look, I think the little prairie dogs have gone back to normal," Ruby pointed out. Namale lowered slowly onto the ground, causing the little rodents to scatter about frantically and scurry back into their hideouts. After landing and putting Ruby down, Namale heard a low groan and coughing noises. She hesitantly went to the side of the large dying prairie dog. Looking down, she saw the blood soaking into the ground and puddling out towards her feet, where she instinctively stepped backwards.

"Prairie Dog, sorry…" she said, remorsefully. "Nah eat you!"

* * *

><p>A few hours later, a farmer was going about his daily routine, doing his job, when he came across a disaster in his field! It seemed like a giant section of the ground had collapsed into a sinkhole, taking a good chunk of crops with it! There was a massive bloody stain on the ground, and in the center of the crater, two girls were roasting a monster rodent over a bonfire, using some of the ruined crops for kindling.<p>

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING THERE YOU HOOLIGANS?!" They squealed and ran off, leaving the farmer to clean up the mess they had made.

"Did we get the dragon balls!?" Ruby suddenly stopped and asked.

"Un, balls?"

"I don't have them, do you?!"

"Nah... no balls," Namale patted her pockets.

"Crap, we have to go back. Go back, get balls. Got it?"

Namale flew up over the farmer so she could look at the ground without him reaching her. "Aaah! It's you, you pesky little, GET DOWN HERE!" She swooped down and grabbed the balls in either hand. "Bye-bye!" she shouted, and zoomed off again, dodging the farmer as he tried to grab her. "Quick, in the car!" Ruby shouted and gestured, sitting in the driver's seat with the engine running. The saiyan girl zoomed into the open window and tumbled into the backseat, while Ruby put the pedal to the floor, making their getaway.


	3. Chapter 3

The girls found the next dragonball with no problems. It was sitting in a garbage bin in a city alley. Ruby insisted on washing it off before they continued. Now they had the 2-star, 4-star, and 1-star balls. Ruby noted that it was lucky none of the dragonballs were hidden in the ocean. They needed to travel southwest a very long ways for the next ball, so she turned in the car at another location of the same company, and they took a distance train across the country. The last stop left them in a hot state with an arid desert climate.

They were driving again—this time in a blue convertible beetle with the hood down. There were small hills and crevices in many places, and the ground was spotted with small bushes and short cacti, and occasionally one or two short, craggly trees. "Ugh, I'm sick of camping—let's sleep in a hotel this time. There's probably snakes and scorpions everywhere on the ground here."

"Scorpions? Scorpions aminals? Yummy?"

"They're toxic!"

"Froggy, nah..." she held a small colorful frog in her hand, and tilted her head as she scrutinized it. "Froggy yummy?"

"DON'T EAT THAT EITHER!" Ruby grabbed it from her and threw it out the window. "You need to watch what you eat or you're gonna kill yourself long before some strong monster or thug does. I can look them up on my scouter, you know!"

After paying for a room, Ruby and Namale were opening one of the doors of the 1-story motel. As they were going in, the door next to theirs opened and a young woman walked out dressed in a sexy, fashionable outfit, carrying a stack of cash.

"On the other hand… maybe scorpions aren't so bad…" Ruby thought, but it was too late and Namale was inside bouncing on the beds. "Nah, what's this!?" Namale pressed the buttons on the TV until it turned on. Ruby set her backpack down and took out the radar. "Namale, the dragonball is moving."

"Uh? Balls?" She crawled over next to Ruby and peered over her arm at the screen. "Nah!" The saiyan grabbed the radar from her, and made for the door. "H-hey, what are you doing, be careful with that!"

"I get ball for Ruby! Goo, nah!"

"We can just wait until tomorrow! I'll go with you, DON'T GET LOST!" she yelled out the door, but Namale had flown off fast into the yellow-orange sky. "Ugh, dammit. I guess I have no choice but to wait here. I guess I'll go have a bath." Ruby heard some muffled clutter sounds from the room next door like someone drunk stumbling around. She ran to the door and slammed it shut, putting up all the locks and the chain.

"Dark night," Namale squinted at the screen, which was getting hard to see. She fiddled with a wheel on the side. "Nah!" She exclaimed in satisfaction when the screen's backlight came on brighter. The radar led her into the town. Buildings no higher than three stories lined the streets in a very western fashion. A few people were walking about and taking a curious glance and Namale now and then. She had left her shoes off at the motel, so she was walking around barefoot. She followed the dragon ball signal down an alley. "Huh?" she saw the ball move away on the radar. Her footsteps began to quicken their pace as she followed the reading around the corner. Soon she was running around streets and alleys. She stopped and sniffed the air. "Nah smell aminal." She honed her ki sense in and detected an unfamiliar type of animal moving about. She held the radar at her side, turned the screen off, and started following the animal using her senses. It was apparently a very stealthy animal, and presumably a small one, given that she hadn't seen it at all. She had it cornered against an alley. It seemed to be hiding in a box. Namale took careful steps, attempting to sneak up on it. She stepped on a piece of paper accidentally, which made a small sound. Suddenly a small, black, thin and nimble figure leaped out of the box almost faster than her eyes could follow. She caught a glint of white somewhere on its body, and sprung into full chase mode.

As she exited the alley, running at full speed, she heard the sharp, angry _BEEEEEEP_ of a car horn. The small animal suddenly froze in its tracks, it leaped into the air, but not quick enough, and it was slammed by the corner of the hood of a pick-up truck that was still skidding to a stop. Namale reacted immediately, and executed a quick leap, enhanced by flight, catching the animal, and tumbling onto the windshield of the still-braking vehicle. Looking down, Namale saw that the animal was very cute and it had triangular ears and whiskers. It had one of the dragon balls attached to its lavender neck collar for decoration. The little white orb had six purple stars. She heard a door slam and looked up. An average-looking man wearing a cowboy hat got out and ran up to her.

"Hey there little girl, are you alright?!" he asked, concerned like a normal person. "Haw? Ain't you one 'o dem 'saiyans'?" he noticed her tail flick up and swish behind her.

"Nah sane." she said. "Aminal, here!" She held out the lithe black animal by its ribcage, which it didn't like and squirmed out. It flipped over and tried to land on its feet, but one of the front paws had been injured, and it went "meow" and collapsed onto the ground.

"Oh, let's see the poor little cat… There there, little feller…"

"Cat?"

"Uh, yes, that is a cat."

"Cat ouchies."

"Well, he's alive, but you should take him to the vet," the cat stirred at the word 'vet,' and Namale picked it up like a baby. The man chuckled, "Hurr hurr, yep. He's defin'tly owned by somebody. Let's see your tag… Funny lil' thing you got on here, eh?" he reached near the cat's neck and found a little metal tag also attached to the collar, dangling underneath the dragonball. "Neeko-sen-nin?" he pronounced badly. "Dang it, I don't know them intergalactic tongues. At least it's written in normal letters…"

"Cat go vet. Nah ask Ruby. Bye-bye big man!" she ran off with the cat in her arms.

"What a weirdo, it's as if she doesn't know how to talk right," he thought, briefly inspecting the front of his truck for damage and getting back into it.

* * *

><p>"Hmm, hmm, la la la!" Ruby hummed to herself as she took a bubble bath and relaxed in the hot soapy water. Suddenly something fell into the water, and said thing scrambled and clawed frantically with a loud "MREAAOW!"<p>

"YIIIIIEEE!" Ruby also panicked and flailed around, slipping in the tub and getting scratched by the cat. Finally the creature was thrown out and sat huddled up on the floor meowing as if afraid or hurt. "WHAT DID YOU GO AND DO THAT FOR?!" She yelled at Namale.

"Nah?"

"Don't you 'nah' me. The hell is this cat-oh, it has a dragon ball. Then why didn't you just take the dragon ball off of it?!"

"Cat ouchies. Man say, cat go to vet... nah," she scratched her head, struggling with her level of language.

After she got out of the tub, Ruby had a towel wrapped around her as she sat on the edge of one of the motel beds. "Can't we just take the ball and go… It's just a cat." Ruby reached for the cat's collar and started unfastening it, but the cat hissed and scratched her. "OOW!" she yelled and pulled her arm back quickly.

"Cat go vet! Nah help cat!" she insisted, putting her arms down on around it.

"We're on a quest, kid. Focus on the goal. We don't have time for stray cats! Take the dragon ball off of its collar, and we can get some sleep for tomorrow."

"Cat go vet," Namale insisted. "Nah go now!" She moved towards the door. Ruby took a sharp breath and weighed her options when she realized that the cat still had the collar. "Fine." Namale stopped and looked at her. "But we're only taking it to the vet. They can handle it from there. They can call up the owner and have them pick it up. What does the tag say anyways?" She reached for the tag, but drew back when the cat became defensive. Namale calmly held the tag up.

"Neko Sennin," Ruby read. "Hold on, let me look that up." She reached for her scouter, which was plugged into the wall to charge, and did an internet search for the name. "Looks like he's some sort of fighting master." Namale's ears stood up when she heard that. "Fighting master?! Where?!"

"He lives somewhere in this state… oh wow, that's like in the middle of nowhere. How do you _live_ out there?!"

The next day, they got the cat checked by a V-E-T. She offered to take the cat into the system and have it returned for them, but when Ruby told her who the cat's owner was, she changed her mind and handed the cat to them and wishing them luck. She did also confirm for them that the cat was male.

"Well, the next dragon ball is south, so I guess it's not too bad." The girls stopped by the roadside for lunch. Ruby checked her radar and then was looking stuff up on her scouter. "I'm cross-referencing the coordinates from the radar to see which roads we have to take," she explained when Namale gave her a confused look. "Don't worry about it, just focus on learning to speak. Speaking of which, remember not to talk to anyone else about the dragon balls. Do you understand?"

"Nah... uh-huh," she nodded. "We're gonna be travelling for a while, now. The next dragon ball is at the southern tip of South America. We'll go there after we return your cat."

"Return cat, meet Neko Fighting Master."

"You got it."

* * *

><p>They eventually found themselves driving on seldom-travelled dirt roads in a very bare desert area. It was much more sandy now, with the only rare vegetation being a tall green type of cactus. They put the hood up to use the air conditioning because it was hot, and sand was blowing in their faces. In the afternoon, they turned off the road and Ruby drove cautiously over the natural terrain. Namale sat on the hood and watched for holes and cliffs. The sun was getting low in the sky, so they stopped to set up camp. "You should just leave the cat in the car. I don't want him scratching up my tent!"<p>

Namale sat on the ground as Ruby cooked some camp food packets over a portable gas stove. The cat seemed annoyed at being held, but had given up trying to struggle out of the girl's arms, opting instead to prompt for ear rubs.

* * *

><p>Perched on a ledge beneath a jagged plateau, a woman used a mini scope to spy on the travelers as they ate their dinner. "Mmm, what a find! All that food, and they have a car, too! How lucky for me—wait! That little brat is a saiyan!" Her own tail flicked behind her, as she brushed some of her bangs out of her eyes, and pressed some buttons on her scouter. "Oh, nevermind! Her power level is lower than mine. This should be easy."<p>

Namale suddenly stood up and announced, "Someone come!"

"Are they friendly?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Nah?" she shrugged.

A woman appeared in front of them on foot, running quite fast and skidding to a halt. She had light skin, green eyes, and chin-length dark blonde hair. She wore a cowboy hat, knee-high cowboy boots, a white bandana pulled up over her nose and chin, a dark green halter top, gray corded wristbands, black fingerless gloves, and denim short-shorts. She also had a handy utility belt including pounches and a knife and a handgun by her hip. She looked mostly human, but was obviously some part saiyan, from the light brown tail wrapped around her waist. "Who are you?" Ruby asked.

"Heh, well if you really insist, name is Cynthia. But beyond that, all you need to know is…" she drew her pistol and twirled it around in a flashy way before grabbing the hilt firmly and aiming at them. "That I'll be taking that vehicle, as well as all your money and food! Hand them over calmly and you won't get hurt. Oh, and the cat, too."

"Cat? You take cat... why?!" the girl raised an eyebrow at her.

"Because… I'm getting sick of wild dog," she patted her belly for emphasis.

"No! Mean lady fight Nah!" she shouted angrily, getting into a fighting stance. Ruby picked up the black cat and started stepping back.

"Hey, don't move!" she shouted and fired a warning shot that hit the ground less than an inch from Ruby's toes. "Yiii!" She stood rigid.

"No fight Ruby! Fight Nah! No fair, meanie!"

"I am fighting fair—by my standards, ahahahaha!" Namale zipped between the two older girls and stood ready.

"Kid, lemme tell you, you are not strong enough to deflect these bullets." She did not listen and shot an energy blast at the brunette's face. She tried to hop forward and follow up with a punch, but there was a loud BANG, followed by a kick to the stomach that sent Namale flying back, landing near Ruby. She squinted and clutched her shoulder in pain where the bullet had dug into her flesh at least a centimeter. Blood flowed out and stained her white tank top. The thief stepped over her and casually walked over to Ruby.

"Keys, please," she held out a hand, and the redhead obediently handed them over. "What's that?" Cynthia asked, laying her eyes on a pair of dragon balls sitting on the ground, exposed. "Th-those? Oh, they're nothing, just a couple of er… souvenirs! Silly things they sell at gift shops, don't they?!"

"I'm sure," she brushed off the bluff, tossing the 1- and 2-star balls into the air with her toe and catching them in her other hand. "Cute little things… ow!" she dropped them and looked behind her. Namale had grabbed her tail from behind, squeezing as hard as she could with her right hand. She brought up her other hand as best she could, and fired a blast at the gun which had fallen to the ground, which ignited all the gunpowder in the barrel and made it explode. "Aaaugh, you blew up my gun!" she cried, and fell to her knees as Namale's grip tightened.

"You shot me!"

"You blew up my _gun_!"

"You _shot_ my _shoulder_!"

"Bitch, let go of me!" Both girls were weakened—Namale from blood loss, and Cynthia from having her tail grabbed. The bandit elbowed her in the head, and it was strong enough to get her to loosen her grip enough for the second blow to really hurt her.

"Let's see how you like it now!" Cynthia grabbed Namale's tail in turn and held her up by it. In the grip of the stronger saiyan, the tables were turned and she was completely helpless. She punched the little girl repeatedly, alternating between using her free hand and her tail. Ruby yelled at her to stop, but she was too angry to consider listening. At first she had been planning to avoid any fatalities, but she had forgotten all about that. Finally, she pulled out the knife from her belt and was about to finish her off.

"HEY, STOP IT! SHE'S JUST A CHILD, ARE YOU GOING TO MURDER HER?!" Cynthia actually looked at Ruby for a second and paused mid-stroke. The human had a point, and she seemed to be considering letting the child live. However, before she could make the decision on her own, her scouter beeped, alerting her of another high power level coming her way from behind. She barely turned around in time to receive a big ki blast to the face. "What?!" She dropped the girl from pain and surprise. A new person landed from the sky with no small amount of force, creating a small dust cloud that obscured their identity for a few seconds. As Cynthia was struggling to open her eyes again, she was whacked in the face and sent flying. The newcomer was yet another saiyan, although he was a very short and old one. He stood just a few inches taller than the toddler-sized Namale. He had a tail and receding hairline that were gray, a long mustache and dark sunglasses. He wore a short-sleeved black tunic with a red 'neko' encircled on the front, a red belt, black pants, and sky blue ankle bands and wrist bands. The half-saiyan got back up, with blood pouring from her nose now.

"Ouch! Who the hell are you?! You want a piece of me you old prune?!"

"I could ask the same of you, young lass. Who'd ya think _you_ be, beatin' on lil' kids on _my_ turf?!" She growled and charged at him, thinking he had only caught her by surprise. She was quickly defeated by a single fist in the abdomen, and fell to the ground struggling to breathe.

"Best give it up. This is not a fight ya can win." He turned to the girls and saw that Namale was beaten to the point of being unable to move. Then he noticed the cat. "Spikey!" he cried, completely changing his serious demeanor, and scooping up the cat that mewed in his arms. "Aww, don't cry Spikey! Daddy's here now, you're coming home with me! Hey, you girls should come back with me too. The little one needs some patching up, eh?"

"Thank you very much, sir!" Ruby said.

"It's no problem, no problem at all!" He said. Internally, he was checking out Ruby and thought, _This girl is just perfect! Maybe I can get her to do_ that…

The turf was pretty smooth, so they placed the injured child in the front seat of the car, and Ruby followed the old man as flew in front of her to lead the way across the desert wilderness. He hovered by the side door as they drove.

"You a fighter, kid?"

"Nah fight! Get strong!" she replied weakly, but with enthusiasm. "Love fight!"

"What's with her speech? Is she mentally handicapped or somethin'?"

"I picked her up on an island," Ruby explained. "She was probably abandoned. It doesn't seem like she was raised by any humans or sentient people. Right, Namale? You were alone?"

"Yes," the girl agreed.

"Hopefully she'll learn to talk like a normal person within a few years."

"Namale, have ya had any trainin'?" He asked her.

"Nah, training? What training?"

"I thought so. If ya were properly trained, ya would have been able to defeat that thief easily."


	4. Chapter 4

"OW OW OW!" Namale screamed and squirmed around. Neko Sennin held her down as Ruby tried to extract the bullet from her shoulder with a pair of tweezers.

"It wouldn't hurt as much if you stay still!" They both yelled at her. Finally, the old man squeezed her tail to tranquilize her while Ruby quickly finished the job. "Finally," the teenager let out a sigh of relief. Then she held up a bandage as the hermit was handing her a tube of disinfecting salve.

"Ok, now, we just have to bandage you up," Ruby tried to press the wound with gauze to stop the heavy bleeding that was due to removing the bullet as well as the child's struggling. But she bolted up, screaming "NO MORE, NO MORE!" She flew out the window, shattering the glass headfirst.

"MY WINDOW!"

"COME BACK HERE!" Ruby shouted. They ran out after her, and Neko Sennin took to the air, following her energy. Luckily, he did not have to go far. Removing the bullet in her shoulder had unblocked a vein again, so she bled out through her shoulder until she didn't have enough energy to fly anymore. The older saiyan landed at the house with the child in his arms. He sighed, "Well, she'll just get stronger from recovering now."

"Ugh, then she'll be harder to treat next time!" They shared a laugh and finished up the first-aid on the girl who moaned at them, but could otherwise do nothing in protest. The hermit allowed the young women to sleep in his spare bedroom for the night. Ruby carried Namale to the bedroom ("Oof, she's heavy!"). Stepping near the bed, she slipped on something by the bedside and wobbled. There was a loud meow and a sharp pain on her leg. "Kyaaah!" she dropped Namale awkwardly on the bed and fell to her knees as a light tabby cat hissed at her and then ran out the door. "Ugh, stupid cat!" She grabbed a tissue from the bedstand and absorbed the thin trickle of blood that was oozing out of the deepest part of the scratch. "Huh," she mused outloud, casting a glance towards a shallow wall closet. "Are those women's clothes?" She shrugged and went back to the main part of the house to hang around before she went to bed herself.

* * *

><p>A vulture swooped down, and pecked a face-planted Cynthia tentatively. Turned out, she was very much alive, and the poor creature never even saw the hand that snapped its neck.<p>

"Uuugh, that stupid old geezer!" She ripped feathers off the bird in chunks. "How could I be beaten by a guy who smells more like a cat than a saiyan!?" She started eating the vulture raw, while whining and pouting to herself, "Stupid cave girl, 'tupid rich ci'y bitch… stupid… cat!" Finishing all the meat except for the icky innards, she licked her fingers and smirked as she stood up proudly again. "I'll show those twerps! Just because you can beat me doesn't mean you can actually win! I'll get that car _and_ the keys right under your nose!"

She found her knife on the ground and replaced it in her belt. Then she turned her scouter on silent mode. She set a monitor on herself to help make sure her power level stayed at zero. Despite wearing stylish cowboy boots with modest heels, she was absolutely silent as she sprinted in a large arch around the desert oasis. She knew to watch out for the superior olfactory senses of the saiyans as well as cats, so she made sure to approach the house from several kilometers downwind. It was nighttime when she snuck up, using the trees for cover until she could press herself against the side of the house. She used both her scouter and her natural senses to avoid people, cats, and other animals. Eventually, she found it easier to hide in wait on the roof, and so she sat, listening for the opportunity to act.

"Hehe, these are so cute..." Ruby said, inspecting the toys on the shelf inside the house. She reached out and squeezed the dark blue plushie of a vaguely humanoid blob with glowing eyes.

'"How's that girl doing then?"

"Sleeping like a rock." _So the little girl must be sleeping soundly due to her injuries. That's good for me, but the cat man is a big problem. I can't carry the car off or he'll definitely sense me, so I'll have to wait until they fall asleep—unless! The little one is sleeping in a different room. It's possible the human girl left the car keys or other valuables in there. I could go check now while they are talking._ Her scouter flashed a warning as she carefully peered over the ledge of the roof—there was a cat strolling around the side of the house—dark brown and hard to spot in the night.

While she was deep in concentration, she did not notice a dark colored bird land on the roof and hop up beside her. "CAW CAW!"

"Wah!" Cynthia gasped, and hastily covered her mouth with both hands. "_Think that's funny, do you?!_" She hissed, and tried to swat the crow away with a hand, and it fluttered into the air and hopped around on the roof.

"Did you hear something?" Ruby looked up.

"Sounds like some birds having a fight. Don't worry about it."

Cynthia saw that the coast was clear down below, so she hopped and landed next to the bedroom window. The window was closed, but not locked. It was a sliding type, so she could open it easily from the outside. The bed was pushed up against the window, so Cynthia leaped over it, landing lightly on all fours. The black bird fluttered in after her, hopping around on the bed. "Caw!" "_Shut up you goddamn bird!_" Cynthia grabbed the bird with one hand, and transferred it to her tail, where she wrapped the tip around the bird's beak, muffling it's calls.

"Now, the saiyan I can understand, but a city girl like you? Adventurin' in the hottest desert on Motto? She drag ya out here?"

"Uh…" Ruby and Neko Sennin both turned at the "caw", looking at the spare bedroom door. Ruby tried to keep the conversation going. "Well, er, Namale found your cat and so we ended up dropping him off here." _Darn, I forgot to take the dragonball from him earlier,_ she realized. _There's no way I can take the ball from the cat without this super powerful_ _saiyan noticing… I'll have to be coy about this._

"Well then, I do appreciate that."

"Hey, so, about that… you sure seem happy to have your cat back. Um, is it possible you might think about err… _rewarding_ a pair of eager young adventurers such as ourselves?" she gave him her best pleading look.

"A reward besides savin' yer lives, and the inevitable breakfast yer friend will need tomorrow?"

_Dammit!_ "Just hear me out. It's not that big of a deal!"

"Well then, out with it. What do ya want?"

"I need that ball that your cat—er, that Spikey wears on his neck."

"Oh, you want _this_ ol' thing? That's all? Why didn' ye just say so then, lass? Found it years ago and stuck it on there." He detached the ball while cooing the cat reassuredly. He mewed in protest, but was too lazy to get up to attempt to get the ball back, and curled back up against the hermit's tail.

Ruby hopped up from her armchair and eagerly took the ball from the old man. "Yes! I got it! I got the 6-star dragon ball!"

"Hold up a second. What do you mean by_ the_ 6-star dragon ball. What exactly_ is_ that lil' orb?" Ruby froze, and groaned to herself. "Oh, it's nothing, just a, uh… It's just from an old collector's toy, yeah! Ahahaha!"

"Come on now, girl. You can tell the ol' Cat Hermit. I still haven't decided to give it to ya, so why don'tcha sit back down and tell me what it is?"

"Ugh, fine…"

Meanwhile, Cynthia had failed to locate the car keys, but she did take some rolls of cash from the yellow backpack. The magenta backpack only had a few pieces of clothing in it. She supposed it must belong to the child.

"…to summon the eternal dragon, and he will grant you any wish!" This phrase caught the thief's attention, and apparently, the crow's as well. The bird stopped struggling, and fell silent, while the half-saiyan girl tiptoed closer to the door and carefully eavesdropped.

"Oh my, any wish, ya say?"

"Well, that's how the legend goes!"

"But you said that these 'dragonballs' are scattered all over the planet. How exactly do you plan to find them?"

"I built a radar to detect the unique radiation that they emit. Hold on, I can show you." Cynthia started, and leaped back out the window, and back onto the roof as she heard the human girl's footsteps approaching the room.

"This is amazing! If I were to follow them, and jack the wish at the last second... Oh yes!"

The crow was tired of being held, and fluttered violently, managing to get its beak loosened just enough, and bit Cynthia's tail. "YEOUCH!" she yelled. "You stupid bird!" she lunged towards the bird, but the bird had fluttered in front of her, and as she grabbed it, they both fell off of the roof.

"Who's there?!" demanded the old hermit, running to the window. He flew out the opening and landed in front of Cynthia, while Ruby ran out the front door and came around the side of the house. "You again?!"

"Hey, is that my money?!" Cynthia jumped to her feet and attempted to fly away as fast as she could, but ran straight into the chest of the elder saiyan. "Leaving so soon? Why don't you come in and _have some tea_?"

"I-I-I-uh, ok, yes sir…" she winced as he grabbed her shoulder and dragged her back to the house. He let go and she fell to the ground, rubbing her skin, and put her hat back on. Ruby stood in front of her, tapping her foot and holding her foot out expectantly. Cynthia grumbled, and shoved the money into her hand. She glared out the window where the crow could be seen hopping around happily.

* * *

><p>"Now then, what to do with ya…" Neko Sennin paced around in front of the young hybrid seated on the armchair. He checked out both of the women, looking up and down their bodies. "Why are you checking <em>me<em> out too?" Ruby asked, annoyed.

"Ehehehe," he grinned. "This is perfect! Yes, you'll look amazing! Ladies, please wait here a moment!" The old hermit dashed into the spare bedroom where the injured girl was still sleeping soundly. He emerged a second later carrying some clothes.

"What the—" both women had sets of clothing shoved into their hands. "You want us to dress up?" Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "Wait, wait, why am_ I_ lumped in with _her_?!" Ruby protested.

"Ah, indeed for the thief girl, this is for trespassing and stealing from my house, but _you_ still owe me a favor for that present I gave you! It was mostly Namale who took care of Spikey and returned him to me. Now, change into those outfits, and as for _you_, thief, if I hear a peep from the human girl, I'll come in there even if you are still changing!" He dipped around the corner of the kitchen. He came back when they were changed, with a camera.

"This is cute. Can I keep this whip?" Cynthia was wearing a sleevless white fleece vest with a blue cross design, and a matching blue short skirt. It came with a belt that had a set of keys and a whip attached to it, and knee-high black boots.

"Aren't these outfits kind of opposite to our personalities?" Ruby questioned. She was wearing a replica armor curaiss, and also a blue short skirt. She assumed the replica sword went with the outfit.

"That's why it's called cosplay!" he grinned. "Here, hold the sword like this… yeah, that looks just right! Thief girl—"

"My name is Cynthia!"

"Thief Cynthia, can you hide your tail under your skirt?"

"You want me to look like a human?" she said confused, wrapping her tail around her upper thigh under her skirt. "And pose with the keys like that… perfect!" He snapped a picture. "And one more with me!" he set the timer and jumped into the frame with them. "Awesome! Well done, girls, well done indeed. This is going right on MottoSpace!"

"Finally, this armor is heavy!" Ruby moaned, unfastening her armor plate.

"Hey, aren't you going to leave again while we change back?!" Cynthia snapped. "Sure, sure." _As soon as he leaves, I can get out of here_… she thought.

Neko Sennin went into the kitchen again. Cynthia waited for Ruby to finish taking off her armor. She was wearing just a bra underneath it, since she didn't have any undershirts that wouldn't show through. The blonde girl flashed behind Ruby, and knocked her out with a chop to the back of the neck. The hermit felt the disturbance, and rushed back into the room. "Oh, my miss Ruby… she seems fine. Where did the thief go?! I can't feel her presence at all!" He ran outside and tried to find Cynthia. Her scent lingered, but it was all over his property now, and he couldn't pinpoint her location by scent alone.

She was still inside the house, actually. Smirking, she went back into Namale's room and was going to steal Ruby's money again and take off. However, when she entered the room, a certain pesky crow was there waiting for her. It cawed loudly before Cynthia could stop it. She resisted the urge to yell loudly at the crow, as she was forced to drop the cash and flee the house out the other door, because the hermit heard the noise and came back in through the window. The crow acted like a normal bird that had no idea what was going on, and fluttered out the window, as if startled by the old man. "Damn that girl is one sneaky thief! I can't sense even the slightest peep of her energy! Well, looks like she gave up on stealing their money, at least. I wonder if that's the last you'll be seeing of her or not?"

* * *

><p>The next morning, both Ruby and Namale woke up in the bed. The human girl had an ache in her neck, but was otherwise fine. The young saiyan still had to have her bandage changed and kept on for a few days, but after a hearty breakfast, she had recovered enough energy to be fit for travelling. Ruby was back in her normal clothes, but Cynthia had stolen the cosplay outfit when she ran off. Ruby considered taking the thief's clothes in return, but when she tried them on… "Haha, Ruby is too fat!" The saiyans laughed at her as she struggled to zip up the shorts. "I'm curvy, not fat!" she retorted. "Why don't you keep them and try them on in a few years? Maybe you'll grow up to be as flat as her!"<p>

"Now then, young lady," Neko Sennin came to say a few last words to Namale as they were dumping their stuff in their car and about to leave. His dark brown tabby cat, a male named Rex, was pacing around him. "Yer not quite at full strength yet, so try to avoid any fights for at least today and tomorrow."

"Ok, Cat Man!"

"And watch out for that saiyan thief—she got away last night, and I don't know if she's given up on you yet. Always remember that disarming those with firearms is a top priority in any fight!"

"Nah?"

"Go after the guns first."

"Guns is bad!" she nodded.

"And, when you are done with yer quest for the dragonballs, you should come back here for some training."

"Training?! Nah train fighting with Cat Man?!"

"Yea, why not? Ya got a LOT to catch up on at yer age. But, if ya come back here I'll help ya get strong and smart like ya should be. I don't mind at all, it's been gettin' a bit boring around here actually—oof!" His sunglasses were almost knocked of his face as the little saiyan child rammed into his midsection in a tackling hug. "Nah come back soon! Train lots and fight good! Cat Man good! Nah come back soon, ok?"

"Aah—I won't go—easy on—you girl!" he choked out, prying her off of him. He lifted her by the collar like a kitten and deposited her in the front seat of the car.

"Alright, now. Take care you kids."

"Bye Cat Man!"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay in uploading! This chapter had a lot of exposition and stuff setting up new characters and explaining a bit more about the setting of the story. It took me a while to edit it until I was satisfied. This story really is complete (at least for the first arc) and it will be all uploaded pretty soon.

In this chapter, you should see what I mean about not following fanon... The mechanics should be mostly consistent with what one can infer by reading or watching DBZ, with new things added and nothing negating anything from the original series. But I'm not adhering to anything that I've only read in other fanfictions. I do apologize though, for using cheesy Japanese terms in the English dialogue. I think the differences in the way I refer to things is supposed to imply that some of the characters are speaking English and others are speaking Japanese or something. It's kind of intentionally vague at this point.

Also, I will eventually upload some cover art and give a link to more arts so you can see what the characters look like.

* * *

><p>"Four balls." Namale held out the dragon balls on her lap and inspected them. They were back on the road driving further and further south down the continent. "1-star, 2-star, 4-star, 6-star!" Ruby pointed to the balls, showing her the correct numbers. "So now, we have just three left."<p>

"Free left," Namale repeated.

"Ooh, I'm so psyched! Forget research, I'm gonna make that wish!"

"Make a wish?"

"Let's hurry up, Namale! We need to finish our quest before my next term starts."

"What term starts?"

"I'll be in my last year of school. I can catch up if I'm late, of course, but that's totally uncool!"

"What is school?"

"School is where you go to learn."

"School learn fighting."

"Noo, honey. They don't teach fighting in school. You learn science and history and math and stuff."

"Nah..."

"I'm not exactly sure how old you are, but it's probably not to late for you to go to school. You should think about it, if you don't want to grow up to be an idiot."

"Nah fight. Cat Man learn Nah fight. Train big."

"Heh, I figured you'd say that. Must be nice being able to choose your future. You don't have any parents to tell you what to do."

"Nah... Nah stupid?"

"What? Well, stupid isn't really how I'd put it. You just have a lot to learn."

"Oh..."

"Relax, you're doing fine."

* * *

><p>They stopped for the night at a town along the border of the country they were currently in. It was mostly a small town, with some tourist-oriented businesses and gift shops in the downtown section. They got gas, dinner, and a hotel. The next morning, they drove across customs. "Big wall!" the little girl pointed.<p>

"This country used to have very strict border security a long time ago. If you climbed over the wall, they would shoot you down!" the man at the window told her.

"Nah fly on wall!"

He chuckled and answered her, "Yep, you warrior races made all that stuff pretty pointless. It just stands as a remnant of the past now. Have a nice trip, girls!" Namale waved at him as they drove off into the open countryside.

* * *

><p>A young man flew through a raging blizzard in the dead of night. His red eyes narrowed into thin slits on his pink face. As his body required no clothing for either warmth or modesty, he wore none. He did own a few garments, but getting them ripped up from training would be pointless. He sensed a small group of beings slightly ahead and pressed onwards. His skin was all pink, except for shiny, smooth, white plates that covered his shoulders, sternum, and parts of his wrists and shins. His head looked like it had a sort of helmet, the same pink color, with a long white gemplate. The white part had a thin black line with a little zig-zag decorating it. Lines from the corners of his eyes traced down his cheeks. The nails of his ten fingers and six toes were painted red, and his long, pink tail blew around in the wind.<p>

He tumbled to the left, grazing a stream of white bullets that illuminated the flurries of snow around him as they passed. Confirming the identity of the enemies based on their attacks, and the stupidity of their aiming scheme, he continued to dodge the stream easily by pressing on to the left as they continued to aim at where he was previously. Getting closer, he could feel that there were six enemies in front of him. He raised both his hands and sent out his own stream of blasts. He heard the shrill, girlish, demonic cries of blizzard fairies, and caught a brief glimpse of their bodies and faces as he passed, just before they disintigrated into water.

The young man landed on a large stone bridge. The path led up through an arch to a large, weathered, stone complex, where snow piled up in the cracks and corners. As he was walking towards the courtyard, a figure called to him from a shadowy corner by the entrance. "Choco! Over here." The young man walked over to her. "Good evening, honorable archmage, how may I be of service to you?-ow!" The woman tapped him on the forehead with her palm.

"Oh you, silly Choco. Just call me 'Syra' like everyone else!" Syra had light and dark magenta skin, a white helm with four white spikes and a large blue gem with swirling black lines. She wore fancy black robes lined with purple embroidery and yellow buttons. "So, how'd it go?"

"I took care of all the fairies near the the humans' settlement. They've gotten really aggressive lately, it's pretty bothersome. If a village is attacked, they could definitely kill some weaker people."

"Don't look so grave! You're not the only student here who can fight them. I know it was just a little warm-up for you! I've got a more important job for you now. This one I really can't trust anyone else for."

"Figures you wouldn't come talk to me unless you needed something," he said while rolling his eyes.

He followed her across the courtyard, into the building, and down flights of stairs to somewhere near the ground level or basement. "So, what is it already?" He asked, impatiently tapping his tail on the ground as they walked. "Shh, in here. It's a seeecret." Syra stopped at a sealed door in the hallways. Her hand glowed with a pink energy as she undid the lock. The chamber stored several important looking books and artifacts on shelves and pedestals. In the corner a computer monitor with a touch screen was mounted into the wall. They waited while it turned on.

"Tell me Choco, have you ever heard of the legend of the dragonballs?"

"Um... think I might have read something somewhere about that... a legendary set of balls that summon a dragon that grants you a wish?"

"Mhmm," she touched one of only a few icons on the interface. The screen showed a dark blue map with a grid overlay. Seven purple dots were shown on the map, blinking every two seconds to emphasize their location. Four of the dots were together on the southwestern continent. "Isn't that a map of Mottosei?" He asked, recognizing the continents from elementary level education. "Do you mean to say that they have dragonballs there?"

"Well yes... and no. The story is a bit strange, but apparently they used to have an eternal dragon on Mottosei. Did you read about the origins of the dragon balls? They were created by select specialists from the Namekian race. Their planet is so far away from us, I have no idea how any of their people managed to end up way out here, plus I also read that they were wiped out due to climate change. Whatever the case, an eternal dragon indeed existed on Mottosei. The dragon's life was tied to the individual who created the dragon balls. When the creator died, the dragon would die, the dragon balls would turn to stone, and that would be the end of it. Hundreds of years ago, on Mottosei, there was a great disaster and the eternal dragon almost destroyed the world. The story is made of accounts from multiple people, and is somewhat inconsistent. Someone defeated the dragon, but he did not die, instead he turned back into the dragonballs, which were still active. They are powerful artifacts that can't just be smashed. This computer here shows a radar remotely monitoring the location of the dragon balls on Mottosei. Someone must have built a radar of their own to detect them because there's no way they could move like this unless someone was deliberately gathering them. No one has ever tested exactly what would happen if the dragon balls were all brought together again, but I have a bad feeling about this. It could be dangerous for everyone on both planets. I need you to go and try to stop them from being collected. Tell them that it's pointless-they aren't going to grant a wish. I have no idea what their motives could be, so please be careful."

"If I can't reason with the people collecting them, could I just take one of the dragonballs and run back here to hide it?"

"Yeah, that would be a good idea, if their radar doesn't follow it outside the planet. I don't think they are going to finish collecting the balls today, so why don't you relax a bit and get some rest? I'll send you to Mottosei when you're ready."

"Ok, I'll leave tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Cynthia sprinted along the desert road. She kept the blue bug just in view on the horizon, matching its pace as best she could. The car stopped, so she did too.<p>

"Someone come. Ruby, car stop." Namale squinted behind them, concentrating.

"Is it that thief girl following us still?"

"Nah..." She tilted her head in confusion. Ruby stopped the car so she could fly up a little and take a good view of the surroundings. "No one come." She plopped back into the front seat.

Cynthia's heart was pounding, as she emerged from behind a rock formation, keeping her power level concealed again. "Dammit, I can't chase them on foot without giving out enough power for that brat to sense me!" She set a monitor on her scouter to keep track of the saiyan's ki, so she could let the car go out of her sight. "I hope my scouter's range is still wider than her natural sense." She was about to take off after them again, when she heard an engine rumbling in the distance. "What fantastic luck…" she thought, as a tough-looking human man came driving by on a large motorcycle. She waited for him to drive just past her. He made an easy target for her. The loud obnoxious country music playing on his radio, and the roar of the wind drowned out his senses. Cynthia flew up behind him, and landed her butt on the back seat just above him. "What the—"he tried to turn around, but the half-saiyan girl slapped one hand over his mouth, and held his head against her chest so that he could not look backwards. As the bike slowed down, she put her foot out to hold the balance. She shoved the man off the bike onto the road, and turned the throttle to speed off with it.

"Could have been a bit quieter," she mused to herself, and she straddled the bike, which was still running. Suddenly, a familiar crow fluttered in front of her, and landed on the handlebars as she was still accelerating.

"CAW! CAW!"

"AAUGH, YOU AGAIN!" She yelled, and fired a ki blast at it with her hand, but it dodged the blast and perched on her other arm instead.

"WHAT IS YOUR DEAL YOU GODDAMN BIRD?! I don't have time for this! Hope you can handle the wind, you little shit." She shot it a glare, before thrusting the bike up to its top speed.

"Caw, caw!"

"They're out of range! I gotta catch up!" The crow had some difficulty hanging on to Cynthia's elbow with an 80 mph gust blowing in its face, and the motorcycle was still gaining speed. It hopped into the girl's chest and gripped her cosplay vest with its feet. She growled and tried to pry it off with her tail, but the bird pecked at it. She tried to bat it away with a hand as well, causing the crow to jump up and start flapping and scratching at her face. "GEEAUGH! YOU RETARDED BIRD!" She yelled and grabbed its leg. The crow cawed painfully. "That's what you get, you weakling!" She let go, and it fell onto the seat just in front of her. It struggled now to use its other leg to keep its body balanced on the bike so that it wouldn't fall off. After a few seconds, Cynthia groaned with impatience, and shoved the bird into her lap with her tail. "Just sit still, wouldja?!"

* * *

><p>"Nah, Ruby?"<p>

"Yeah, what?"

"World is big! Long, loooong drive."

"Is it boring?"

"Boring?"

"It means there's nothing to do for fun. Are you getting bored?"

"Nuh? Nope, nope!" she shook her head and insisted.

"Nah, Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Sleep time now soon. Stop car and do tent?"

"It's only noon. Just take a nap or something."

"Ok." 2 minutes later… "Nah, Ruby?"

"What?"

"Where Ruby come from?"

"England."

"Where I come from?"

"America, I think."

"Where is here?"

"Panama."

"Where is Salani?"

"It's the other planet in our solar system."

"Where is Motto?"

"That's our planet."

"What is planet?"

"A planet is a big chunk of mass floating in space. It is shaped like a ball, but it's so big that it looks flat to us on the surface."

"Here is very hot."

"It's because we're near the equator. The energy from the star travels a shorter distance through the atmosphere."

"Why moon make me big?"

"Because you're a saiyan and you have a tail."

"Hey, lake in road! Nah, look there!"

"That's just an illusion. It looks that way because of reflected light. Sit down and be quiet, ok?"

"Ok." She pushed the backpacks in the back seat aside and crawled back there to lie down and sleep. Another 5 minutes passed.

"Nah, Ruby?"

"What?!"

"Dragon ball close soon ok?"

"We've got a long way to go, so stop asking!"

"Sign near town? Let's go lunch! Nah very hungry!" She kneeled on her seat, looking at a blue highway sign, although not understanding what was written on it.

"Oh my god! If it will shut you up for ten minutes..."

* * *

><p>"Ugh… I'm starving… Oh, great! A lunch buffet!" Cynthia had parked her stolen motorcycle in an inconsipcuous location and was walking around the town on foot. She entered the restaurant and payed for one person's buffet. "Nice outfit!" The cashier chuckled at her.<p>

There was a faint 'caw caw' heard through the conversation in the room, and Cynthia shot a glare at the crow watching her from just outside the building on the windowsill. "No crows inside the restaurant!" She jeered at it and stuck out her tongue, childishly. Then her tummy growled loudly, indicating that it was time to get some food, and boy did she have an appetite after her desert adventures. She loaded some plates up with food and began her reversal of the establishment's profits for that day. A few other diners looked at her strangely because of the scene that she was making.

"How could you just let her in here?!" The manager was yelling at the cashier. "Didn't you see her tail?"

"I don't know, boss, she wraps it, I didn't notice." Meanwhile, the half-saiyan rogue had eaten everything at the buffet line, and was waiting for new servings to be prepared. The manager stomped over to her. "Hey, you! You've eaten your fill young lady, please leave now."

"Huh? Who's going to make me? The same person who wrote 'all-you-can-eat' on the signboard outside?"

"This is a very small town! Prices are only calculated with the most generous human-sized portions taken into account! You're going to put us out of business."

"I still don't see how that's my problem," she smirked, wagging her tail for emphasis. Just then, the crow's patience ran out, and it came hopping inside the restaurant on her table, cawing out of her.

"Ugh! And now you come bringing vermin into my restaurant! OUT! OUT WITH YOU! I WILL CALL THE POLICE!" She scowled and left, as she was satisfied anyway. As she walked off into town, the crow perched on her shoulder as if it belonged there. "What do you think I am, a ship captain?"

"Caw, caw!"

"But I don't have a gun now, so the image is kind of ruined, don't you think?!"

"Caw. Caw caw!"

"I WILL EAT YOU!" She yelled, scaring the bird off for a few seconds, before it returned to her shoulder. While she was walking through the streets, she passed a pair of local teenage human girls. They pointed at her and started giggling to themselves. When they passed her, one of them said, "Hey, nice cosplay!"

"Do you go to conventions?"

"You should do Haruhi!" Cynthia glared at them as they passed, but did not cause a scene, and instead headed to the strip mall and went into a clothing shop.

* * *

><p>First, Cynthia found a suitable pair of boots. They were brown leather, came up a few inches above the ankle, fastened with a zipper running up the center, with square red stitching designs on the sides. On her way to the hat racks, she slipped a few pairs of thin socks into her side pouches. The crow cawed in objection. "Hey, miss!" The rogue looked up at the shop keeper with a poker face. "No pets in the shop!"<p>

"Caw caw, caw caw caw caw!"

"It prefers the word 'companion'."

"CAW!"

"He prefers. Apparently, I speak crow now," she joked, sending the shopkeeper a sweet smile to go with it.

"Well, all right then honey. I'm sorry about that. I'll let it go as long as he doesn't get any bird poop in my shop."

"CAW CAW!"

"Oh, I'm the one who should be sorry!" She responded politely. "I really didn't mean to cause any trouble, sir. I'll be done in a moment." Her act worked like a charm, and the shop keeper relaxed enough that she was not under any scrutiny as she walked around. She looked between a few cowboy hats before the crow finally picked one for her. This hat matched the boots well, having the same shade of leather and a similar decorative stitching pattern. "Now, watch the magic," she whispered so that only the crow could hear. She put the hat on her head and walked over the cashier. "Hey, how does this one look?"

"Oh, my, that's definitely a hit with you, miss! It's like it was made for you!" he complimented eagerly.

"Ooh, thank you, sir! I would like to buy this, please. Oh, and I almost forgot… these boots!" She took a step back and showed the man the boots she was wearing. "Certainly, miss! Those really complete the look with the hat!" Cynthia paid for the boots and hat honestly, and left the shop just like a normal person. The crow chirped and settled proudly into the brim of her hat as she walked. She rounded the corner into an alley, flew up onto a rooftop, and then let out a haughty laugh. The crow fluttered up as she took of her hat, revealing the small pieces of clothing and accessories concealed underneath.

"CAW!"

"Tightass."

"Caw caw caw caw caw. Caw caw caw, caw caw…" The crow lectured as she removed her Lucy cosplay outfit and replaced it with her newly stolen clothes. She had a small light pink top that was like a sexy bra with a short little frilly shirt part coming out from it, covering up a few more inches of her midriff. For the bottom, she had outdoorsy shorts in the rolled-hem style. The color was somewhere between dark beige and gray. She thought about what to do with the other outfit. It was rather cute, and the individual parts could be worn separately without her looking like an anime character. She especially liked the boots. But then, it could be used as evidence, so it was best to get rid of it. She incinerated it with her power. "What next…" She thought as she put her utility belt back on, and the empty holster caught her eye. "Oh, right! I need a new gun!"

* * *

><p>Ruby and Namale drove into the town, but before they could get food, they had to stop and get gas. Then they parked the car besides some restaurant that was advertising an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. However, when they walked in the door, their hopes were shattered (or at least Namale's were).<p>

"NOT ANOTHER ONE! OUT! OUT OF HERE YOU MENACE!" The cashier and a man standing next to him that looked like a manager apparently lost their minds when they saw Namale and shooed the girls out of the restaurant without another word.

"DISCRIMINATION!" Ruby yelled back accusingly.

"GO AND SUE ME!"

"Come on Namale, lets go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of cheap carbs."

* * *

><p>"Sigh, this stuff is all crap. None of these guns are anywhere near my level of weapon. Although, I should have expected as much, considering this is the grocery store." As she walked back through the store, the crow cawed and hopped around on the rims of the stands in the produce section. "If you want some of those, you're gonna have to do it my way." The crow cooed and tilted its head curiously. "Ok, do I really have to spell this out for you? Come on, you're a crow! This is easy! See those windows up there? All you gotta do is poke an apple on your beak, then fly up through there! If you do it after I leave, no one will even bother you, even if they DO see you, because you're just an innocent little animal. They'll figure it's not worth the time to chase birds around the store just for one apple that they can't sell now anyways."<p>

"Caaw…"

"Hey, if you're gonna travel around with me, you're gonna pull your weight, buddy." Glancing quickly at the surroundings, she grabbed the crow, and carried him over to the refrigerated shelves containing more vegetables, and plenty of small hiding spaces to put the crow in. "Here you go… I'm gonna walk out that way, and you start your part 10 seconds after I leave. Ready? Go!" She stood up and walked around the corner, casually strolling through the area near the checkout aisles, and giving the cashiers a friendly "well-I-guess-I-didn't-need-anything" smile as she walked through to the general exit. Just as she was across the conveyer belt, she heard a bit of excitement from elsewhere in the store. She looked back in curiosity, like any typical onlooker, but she knew to glance up, and managed to catch a glimpse of black and red fluttering through the upper window in a blur.

Just as Cynthia was leaving the store, Namale and Ruby were walking up to it.

"Aah! It's you!" Both parties exclaimed and jumped into defensive positions across from each other.

"Are you stalking us!?" Ruby accused.

"No, I was just stopping for food! It's not like there are any other towns around here."

"Thief stalking us," Namale nodded. "Nah feel her in car."

"Look, she's got new clothes too. I'll bet you stole them."

"Thief stole them," the child repeated, sniffing the air.

"Hey, watch it, brat! You want me to pop those stitches in your shoulder again?"

"What is a stitches?"

"Yeah right!" Ruby interjected. "Namale can kick your ass unarmed any day!"

"Nah!"

"Which is why we're not even going to bother with you!"

"Yeah! ... Wh-Nah?"


	6. Chapter 6

The two girls sped down the highway in their rental car. "Is she following us?"

"Don't know," Namale concentrated and kept looking back. "Nah hungry…" she complained, and her stomach gave a loud growl that could even be heard by Cynthia as she caught up to them.

"Well, eat the snacks in my backpack then!" Ruby urged. It's bad enough if she fights with her shoulder still injured. I hope some food will be enough to give her a chance, she thought. No sooner had she heard her then the child pulled the food out of the depths of Ruby's big yellow camping backpack, somehow already knowing exactly where they were. Namale was just finishing off the bag of granola bars, when both girls heard the noise. Ruby looked in her rearview mirror, and saw a motorcycle coming up. "Is that her?" She asked, squinting. "Is her!" the child confirmed. The motorcycle's engine roar got louder as the thief gained on them. "Down!" She yelled as a ki blast soared over their heads. Using the backseat for cover, she peeked over the edge and fired a blast back at the bandit.

"Ouch!" She winced, and her other hand pressed the wound on her shoulder.

Cynthia swerved the bike to avoid the girl's larger ki blasts. The crow clung tightly to her belt. She managed to gain on them around a curve, and drove up closer behind them. She charged up a ki ball in one hand, aiming downwards at their wheels. "Don't let her hit the car!" Ruby yelled. Namale hopped backwards and grabbed onto the rear spoiler. When the bandit released a series of blasts, the younger saiyan blocked them all with her tail. It hurt, but she tried not to show it, and kept swatting them away. Ruby made a sudden left onto a backwoods country road, hoping that the traction would be to their advantage. Cynthia did a little vault off the bump in the road, slamming down behind them.

"YOU CRAZY BITCH, YOU'RE GONNA GET US ALL KILLED!" Ruby yelled at her, trying to focus on the road.

"If you're so scared, why don'tcha just stop and fight me?" she taunted, shooting another blast that Namale had to block. She knew she couldn't take too many more of those without losing her grip.

"Nah fight!" She yelled, and kicked off the back of the Beetle. Cynthia punched her in the face as she flew closer, while the crow managed to get out of her lap and onto the back seat. Namale managed to take the punch in stride, while latching on to the handlebars with her hands and tail. She kicked Cynthia in the face, and she fell off the motorcycle. The bike fell on its side and swiveled around as it skidded to a stop, while Namale hopped off of it and landed near Cynthia. Ruby turned her car 90 degrees and skidded to a halt as well. The girls hadn't noticed, but their chase had ended them up on the outskirts of a rural village.

Cynthia hopped to her feet, rubbing her chin. She hurled two blasts at Namale, which she dodged horizontally as she closed in. Namale hovered and attacked the thief's upper body. She managed to block a few of her punches, but eventually the younger saiyan's speed proved superior and she was able to land a clean hit to the gut, followed by another kick to her chin. As she flew back and hit the ground, she closed her left hand around her knife and drew it as she hopped up again. She stood up gasping for breath and wiping a trail of blood from her lip. She charged again, wielding her dagger sword-style. The younger opponent went on the defensive, dodging the deadly blade. She tried grabbing the wrist with her tail as the thief lunged, and punching her in the stomach. The blow came weaker than she expected as Cynthia grabbed her tail back with her free hand. Namale grabbed her back again with both hands, squeezing her wrists with all of her might, until she finally picked her up and threw her.

* * *

><p>One summer day, a duo of two villains visited a village. They were humanoid creatures, but they had blue skin, they were bald, and they had pointed ears and two short horns on their foreheads. One was a bulky man with big muscles. The other was leaner, and wielded a sabre. A group of humans from the village were gathered in the town square listening to what the intimidating pair had to say.<p>

"Holy shit, that man has a curved sword!" An older man pointed and shouted.

"Be quiet, worms!" The one with the sword swished his weapon and pointed it a few inches away from the speaker's face, who was at the front of the crowd. "Eeeh!" he shuddered and backed up several paces. "Listen up, all of you! This land and all of you monkeys are now property of the Mystic Empire Precious Orbs Company!"

"Who the hell do you think you are, you crazy idio-AH!" The woman who was talking got punched by the other blue man, knocking the breath out of her and causing her to fall to the ground in pain. Everyone looked shocked, even more so because it was a woman who got hit. "You asshole, you're gonna get it!" A friend of her became enraged, and tried to fight the muscular stranger. The villain grabbed his arm as he tried to punch, and grabbed him by the ear and threw him back into the crowd. He fell down groaning and bleeding heavily from his ear. The blue-skinned brute jumped and stomped the ground hard and roared at the crowd, causing a disorienting wave of energy to hit them all.

"Mystics are strong. Humans are weak."

"Now that you all see, you will all stay and listen as I explain what we will do with your lives from now on. I am the representative of our empire to be in charge of this area. You shall call my brother and I by our names-"

Suddenly, a small something flew through the air and hit the large man square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. "Brother!"

"Arg! Who dares to knock me down?" An old woman in the crowd perked up and exclaimed, "Hooray! It's a brave young adventurer, come to save us from impending tyranny!"'

"Nah must careful with tail…" the girl grumbled as she crawled off of the large blue man. "Huh? Sorry. Blue man feel ok?"

"Such a puny child as this wants to fight the strong Dabai?!"

"You'll regret that, you little whelp," the swordsman sneered, stepping forward with his sword.

"Huh? Want to fight Nah? Nah fight thief now, you wait ok?"

"How dare you mock us, you brat!" he yelled, and was about to take a swipe at the child, when he was hit by a flying kick to the back of the head. "Outta my way!" The blue man got up and walked towards her, his larger brother also recovering and getting to his feet. "Woman! What do you think you're doing?! If you kneel and beg now, I might not hit you!" Cynthia took her stance and faced the other saiyan who jumped to her feet. She inverted her dagger grip, and the two exchanged a few blows, before they were both attacked by the two blue mystics. They jumped aside and the brothers collided against each other. They temporarily stopped and spared a glance at the men, before glaring at each other again.

"Oh, look kids! These heroic young travellers are taking a break from their afternoon spar to save our village!" the old woman exclaimed excitedly.

"Yay!" yelled a little girl with short hair and straight bangs.

"Old lady say what?" Namale cast a curious glance towards the villagers.

"Don't invent distractions!" Cynthia yelled and shot a ki blast at Namale, who blocked it with crossed arms. She anticipated the thief's next move and planted a chop on the hand that tried to stab her with the dagger. She yelled and dropped the dagger. Namale caught her next punches so that she could hold her hands in place as she quickly picked up the weapon with her tail and tossed it aside. Cynthia tried to use her tail to hit the girl, but she smacked it away with her own, and also kicked her in the shin. She yelled in frustration and the girls turned into a ball of punches and kicks.

"Hey, don't ignore us!" The mystic brothers were angered. The brute charged at the saiyans again. Without turning around, Namale smacked him in the stomach with a backhand fist, and went back to her real opponent. Just then, Ruby had caught up to the brawling girls, with Cynthia's crow following along closely. Cynthia hopped up to avoid the lunging swordsman, hitting his head with her heeled boot. He was knocked out on the ground again. The younger girl immediately engaged her again to prevent her from getting a chance to pick up the cutlass. Eventually, the girls kicked each other in the face simuleaneously, knocking each other out on the ground. Due to her longer reach, Cynthia took less damage and began recovering first. The villagers thought the fight was over, and were starting to gather around the girls. The old lady was going up to Cynthia, and Crow hopped onto the lady's shoulder. Namale hopped up too, and they took off into the air, continuing to fight above the villagers. "Oh my, what diligent training!" she remarked. "Grandma, they just beat up the bad guys and kept training like it was nothing!"

"Yes Dorothy, you should be just like them when you grow up."

"You're right Grandma, I will!"

"Let us prepare a feast for the brave warriors!"

"Yaaay!" all the villagers agreed.

"You guys are such idiots!" Ruby yelled up at the sky.

* * *

><p>Several hours later… Namale and Cynthia were still fighting each other in a field near the village. They were both very worn out, their clothes dirty and torn. Namale's shirt was stained again from her shoulder wound. Ruby and the crow wandered over to them and dragged their respective partners away from the fight. Each saiyan stubbornly insisted that they were the winner of the brawl, although from the damage sustained it would seem about even. "There's food, you morons!"<p>

"What?! Where is it?!" The thief perked up and sniffed the air, noticing the scent of grilled meats.

"Food?! Nah need food now!" Both girls raced back to the village where their competition turned into an eating contest.

"Have some drinks on me, too!" The grandma exclaimed, setting glasses of beer in front of the saiyans. "Thanks, lady!" Cynthia exclaimed, and downed hers. Namale thought the drink smelled funny, but looking at her rival, she decided to do the same, and chugged the bitter liquid in one breath. "Nah... funny juice." A light blush was forming on her cheeks. "W-w-what are you giving her?!" Ruby yelled at the old lady. "She's eight or something!"

"Oh, lighten up, honey! You have some too!"

"Drink funny juice Ruby! Ish good!" Namale giggled and shoved another glass into Ruby's hands.

The next morning, the girls woke up with hangovers. Ruby drank more responsibly, so hers was not as bad, but Cynthia and her little bird had vanished.

"Ugh, my head hurts… Oh no, we got to get out of here! Who knows what that thief stole from the village last night?!" She checked their backpacks quickly for their own valuables. "We got to leave before we get the blame for it!" she dragged the loopy saiyan child into the beetle and they drove off.


	7. Chapter 7

"Val-sama, we have found one of them," the voice of a young man echoed throughout the spacious basement room. He was just over average height, lean, with dark, curly brown hair kept short and stylish. Another man behind him was much taller and broader. He was bald except for a small blonde lock on his forehead. He had a large chin with a light moustache and stubble.

"Excellent work, Andy," answered a young boy's voice. Andy handed him a small bag. Val took a small ping-pong size orb with purple stars inside it, and held it up to look at it through the light. "Ah, a dragonball. To think that such a small object could embody the hopes and dreams of mankind. Once I have all seven dragonballs, no one will ever pick on me in school again... I'll be able to live wherever I want, and have servants do all my homework and chores for me when I rule the world!"

Val was a small, fat, asian kid with a bowl cut of black hair and pale skin. He was wearing khaki shorts, and a t-shirt that read, "Cool Story Bro". He sat in front of a large computer screen mounted on the wall, and he had two additional monitors free-standing on the desk.

"Now, let's see how our little adventurer is doing..." he swiveled in his chair to face his keyboard. He pressed some keys and within a minute he had a GPS program displayed on the screen, tracking a signal moving through the western ithsmus. "Miss Ruby... Ruby Goldman, the heiress of Space Corp. For all your engineering and scientific achievements, one would think your security would be a bit better," he laughed.

"So, is that the radar?" Asked the larger man, pointing to the screen on the right. It had a window open with a program that showed a grid with several dots on it. Four of the dots were clustered together in the lower-left quadrant, moving slowly towards another dot further down.

The other dots were far away from each other on the right half of the map. "That is correct, Rocky. This is all the info I need. But I don't actually have the radar, you see. Someone on the network of Salanisei was kind enough to build one for me, and I can see the location of the people here on Mottosei gathering the balls through the GPS on their scouter. I haven't seen any sign so far that they have any idea that I can see them. I'm a genius!" the three joined in an evil laugh together.

"Takashi! What are you doing down there in the basement? Did you finish your English homework?!"

"Mooom, don't call me 'Takashi' in front of my subordinates!"

"What's going on here?" the boy's mother stomped down the basement stairs, looking irritated. "Didn't I tell you to stop inviting strange people over!? My son has school tomorrow, you delinquents! It's late, get out of here!" She angrily chased the men out of her house, hitting them with a broom.

"The meeting has been compromised! Retreat until further contact!" Val shouted over the racket.

"Understood, Val-sama!" the thugs yelled back at him, before running away from the scary woman.

* * *

><p>Choco arrived on Planet Motto with just a scouter, a pair of baggy cargo pants, and some money and stuff in his pockets. He just stepped out of the customs line at the spaceport in the city of London, when a ringtone sounded from his pocket. He unfolded his scouter and answered Syra.<p>

"Choco! Are you on Mottosei now?"

"Yes, I just arrived."

"Oh, good. Hey, could you get me one of those Super Ninja Space Beetle plushies that they sell at the spaceports? I saw it on TV, they are _only_ sold at spaceports on Motto!"

"Don't tell me you made me take the ship just so you could get one of those?"

"N-no way! Of course I need to conserve my energy for spells..."

"Fine. Can just tell me where the people went? Let's focus."

"Ok. The party gathering the dragonballs is currently in South America. There are lone dragon balls in Western Europe, China, and Japan. What will you do?"

"I'll go get the one nearest to here to hang on to, and then confront the people gathering the rest."

"Ok, I'll text you the coordinates. Call me when you get it and I'll tell you where the other party is."

"Alright, I'm going now."

* * *

><p>"So boss, do we go out and get that dragon ball now?" Rocky asked Val. He was playing a fast paced RTS game on his computer, but he answered without missing a beat.<p>

"No, we should just wait. Someone else is gathering them. If we confront them now, and we can't defeat whoever's collecting them, then it's over! But if we make them get our dragon ball last, I can just use the wish for ultimate power and totally wreck them!"

Andy protested, "Your pardon, Val-sama, but Rocky and I are some of the Touhoku Yakuza's best men. I can assure you that whoever they are, we can handle them!"

"Still, it is better to play defensively. If we just wait for them to come to us, we can have full surveillance in our base."

"Hmph. I guess you're pretty smart for a little kid."

"Well, where do you think I get the money to pay you?" he smirked.

"We're gonna be even more mega-rich when we rule the world!" exclaimed Rocky.

"_Ahem_."

"Err, I meant when you rule the world of course!"

* * *

><p>After an flying for an hour, Syra's voice came over the scouter and helped guide Choco to his target.<p>

"Turn about 10 degrees to the west. The precision is not perfect, but it shouldn't take you too long to find it." He was flying over the ocean, close to the shore of a continent. It was early night, and it was sleating up in the sky. It wasn't cold for him, but his pants were getting wet so he descended away from the clouds. He flew on past a lighthouse, up a beach and over a quaint seaside town. He came to a bay, and Syra's guidance eventually led him to a cave.

A flash of light and a loud bang could be heard and seen from the cave a minute later. The youth emerged with one giant crab leg and one the four-star dragonball. He put it in his pocket and muched on crab meat as he flew off into the sky.

* * *

><p>Val looked at his side monitor and then called up his cronies on their scouter. "Yo, Andy, Rocky. Change of plans-go get the lone dragon ball nearest to us."<p>

"What about your plan from earlier?"

"The most economical path for the enemy to take will put our base at the third-to-last dragonball to be collected. We need to have all seven when they come. In the time it takes for them to find the next ball and fly to Japan, you can bring one more here so we are ready. Plus, someone else has picked up the dragon ball in France. If you can intercept them, bring that one to me as well."

"Let's move out, Rocky!"

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, but did you say you're driving south, young ladies?" An old woman brought Ruby and Namale their drinks as they sat in a hotel's tavern.<p>

"Yeah, we've got a ways to go," Ruby sighed, and sipped her drink.

"We're gonna drive to the tip of the content!" Namale said.

"I was afraid of that... You should turn back. It's not safe there."

"Huh? Why not safe?" Namale asked.

"There's some trouble going on, I hear. It's those mystics, you know. People are even afraid there could be another war. I understand why the government doesn't do something about it! But anyways, where exactly are you headed?"

"Somewhere around Rockier Mountain, I think," Ruby replied.

* * *

><p>After another day of traveling, the girls turned off the highway around noon. As a town came into view, a blue man stood guarding the road.<p>

"Get outta the way, roadblock!" Ruby shouted at him. Some townsfolk behind him looked frightened of the encounter, when Ruby yelled at him.

"Didn't anyone tell you this road was off limits?!" He growled at them. "Now, I suggest you turn around and go back to where you came from."

"Why don't you go back to where ever you came, you big blue freak?" The townspeople gasped.

"You should not have said that..." He suddenly charged finger beams and shot the tires of the blue beetle.

"Aaaah!" Ruby screamed in anger as there was a loud 'POP' followed by a '_hisss_'. "You asshole, what did you do that for?!"

"Silence, wench! For daring to oppose a town guard, you're going to join the rest of these pathetic humans!" He opened the side door, and yanked Ruby out by the arm. "Aaah! Let go of me!"

"Ruby!" Namale shouted, leaping from the car. The mystic was taller, so she just kicked him in the head over Ruby. He fell back and landed on the ground. "Why you little brat!" he seethed. He started to get up, but the saiyan was already between him and Ruby, planting a foot on his chest, and making him lie back down.

"Why hurt Ruby?!" she demanded.

"Look out, Nam!" she looked up suddenly, and raised a hand to deflect a yellow finger beam. Three more mystic warriors had arrived, approaching to back-up their comrade. They shot more beams at Namale, who deflected them. However, the distraction allowed the one underneath her to grab her leg. He threw her to the ground and Namale struggled. She slapped him good with her tail, allowing her to dart away before the other two could help restrain her. She started fighting one of them, giving him a good punch to the stomach, and a kick below.

She looked up as Ruby screamed, and rushed to save her from the guy who was planning to grab her. She rammed him in the shoulder. "Back Ruby!" she shouted, and the teen didn't need to be told twice. She ran behind the car. Finally, Namale landed solid blows on all three blue people, knocking them out.

A little boy burst out of the door of a house and came running up to them. "Wow, that was so cool! You took those guys three-on-one, and it was all like 'pow! hyuh! eh! kick!'" He rambled excitedly. "I bet you're as strong as my brother!"

A middle aged woman came out of the same house, following him. "Juanito, calm down! We don't even know them." She held him back. "But he's right, you know. You are very brave to stand up to those people, and very talented to take them all down like that."

"What's your name?" Juanito asked.

"Her name is Namale, and I am Ruby. But who were those blue guys?"

"The mystics have been running an illegal mining company around here."

"They forced the grown-up men to work in the mines!"

"Cave mining is so archaic. It's unsafe, and outdated for most materials," remarked the mother. "No one should be forced to risk their lives for someone else's profit. I want to be grateful for what you have done for us, but you shouldn't have fought those guards... we may all be in danger now that you've started a conflict."

"But mama, I think that my big brother will beat them up and come back!"

"What? Your brother went to fight them?" Ruby asked.

"Brother is strong?" Namale wondered.

"My big brother Diego is the strongest fighter in our village, even though he's not grown-up!"

"Diego went to try and rescue our town's mayor, who is being held hostage somewhere near the mines. From what I've heard there's probably some sort of keep or fortress there. I am afraid that my son might be..." she trailed off.

"Hey, Namale, come here," Ruby grabbed her and pulled her aside. "This is sounding dangerous. There's nothing for us to gain by staying here. I think we should keep running south, get the dragon ball, and get out of this country."

"Hmm," she frowned. "Nah help boy brother! Nah need fight some! Not fight long time!" Ruby grumbled, remembering her big brawl with the saiyan thief just a few days ago.

"No way. You have no idea how strong your opponents will be. You can't just storm the base of a foreign militia and expect nothing to backfire-who do you think you are?"

"Hey, watcha talkin' about?" the little boy piped up. "Gyah! Nothing we're just going to-"Nah help you!" Namale shouted.

"No!" cried Ruby and the mother simultaneously. "This is awful! I can't ask a little girl like you to go out there against their gang!"

"Nah bored. Go fight blue men!"

"W-wait up!" Ruby shouted and ran after her. Namale ran out into the village, then realized. "Uh... where go, nah?" She looked around. "Namale!" Juanito came running up to them.

"The mines and headquarters are in that mountain over there," he pointed.

"Ok."

"I can help you. I know my way around the village and the mines from way back! Diego and I used to play there before the bad men came!"

"Good Juanito. Ok! Nah take you! Hold on back very good?"

"NAMALE!" Ruby shouted angrily as she flew off with the boy. "That idiot, she left me alone with the dragonballs! I'd better follow them!"

"Smart girl, she knows it's not safe to be alone. Too bad your little brat didn't think of that!" Cynthia stalked Ruby from the shadows until she had bought new tires and repaired her car (which did not take her more than an hour). She waited by the road to the mines outside the village center. When Ruby drove by, she jumped out from stealth, and planted her feet firmly on the hood of the car and the ground, forcing it to a stop. Ruby froze and gripped the wheel fearfully as the thief hopped onto the hood of the car and rested her chin in one hand.

"Hi." Cynthia had aquired new clothes since her fight with Namale, and was now wearing the same thing, but the top was a dark salmon color, and the shorts were white. Her wristbands ere still intact, but she had white gloves instead, as well as a new white bandana. The crow sat in the brim of her cowboy hat, as usual, but the two seemed to have begun to bond somewhat, and the bird mirrored the hybrid thief's expression, adding to her threatening aura.

Ruby quickly tried to cover up the radar in her lap with something like a jacket, but Cynthia's eyes went right towards it. "Ah, so that's how you find them!"

"How I'm finding what?"

"There's no point in hiding my motives anymore, I guess. I'm gonna take that machine from you, and then find the rest of the dragon balls myself!"

"Wha-wait! One of the dragon balls is over there in that mountain!" she lied. There was no dragon ball there, but if Cynthia thought so (Ruby subtly switched the radar off as she talked) then maybe she could get her to help them, and escape from her later. "Namale went there to fight a powerful gang of mystics!"

"Huh, mystics?"

"Yeah, maybe we should team up instead. I think she needs help, and you probably would too, if you just stole the radar from me and went there yourself!"

"Ok, but I am a master of stealth, as you have probably figured out by now. I can just avoid the enemies there if I don't want to fight them. Another flaw in your reasoning is the assumption that you are needed. If I wanted to team up with your brat, that still doesn't stop me from stealing your radar and leaving you here."

"Er... no, I suppose it doesn't," she reluctantly agreed. "Come on, now. Dragon balls and radar. You can give them to me with or without a broken nose. Your choice." Ruby sighed and handed the radar and bag of dragonballs over to Cynthia, who took off towards the mountain. "Hopefully she will get caught and Namale will get the dragonballs back. I need to go help! If she gets away with them, I don't have a spare radar to find her again."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey look. The fortress is over there. We should get down to the ground now and sneak up to it."

"Ok." Namale landed in the woods and gently set Juanito down.

"Be real quiet. Let's not fight them unless we have to ." They were approaching the fortress which was a complex of wooden buildings and raised walkways. Namale grabbed Juanito's collar and pulled him around the corner of a small cabin on the ground. Moments later, they heard the door open, and heavy footsteps walking out onto the ground.

"How'd you know he was there?" Juanito asked.

"Nah feel guys. Feel where guys go."

"Why do you keep calling yourself Nah? You should say 'I'..."

"Hey, who's there?!" the guard had heard them and came over to investigate. He looked around, confused. No one was there. He turned around to go back to what he was doing, when a small figure leaped down from the roof and landed on his shoulders and wrap something furry around his neck. She squeezed hard, and he started trying to bring his hands up to grab her, but she punched him hard in the back of the head, and he fell to the ground, unresponsive. The children ran underneath the boardwalk. "Wait," Namale whispered. Juanito stood still as she leaped up and dissapeared over the edge of the platform. He heard a blow and a low grunt. He jumped and almost yelled when something blue jumped down in front of him, but it was being held up by the saiyan, who let him go and fall face-first into the ground. The children shared a grin.

They jumped up onto the platform, where they landed behind a cabin that gave them some cover. They climbed inside the window. Namale picked up the guard's lunch that he had been eating on the table and munched on it while peering out the window. "It's a long way to run to the next house." The boy noted. Namale nodded in agreement.

"We run."

"Ok." The cabin door flew open and the children ran out. Namale was a bit far ahead of Juanito when a guard shouted across the complex. "Hey, there's some dumb kids out there!"

"Oh, no!" Juanito cried, scared. They dashed to the next building, another small cabin. The boardwalk was like a big circle. There was one additional cabin across the complex where the guard spotted them from, and a main house between them in the corner. Namale jumped through the window, but the man inside was ready with a crossbow aimed at them. The saiyan panicked and turned quickly turned, shoving the human child away. She got hit in the arm by a bolt that missed the bone, but went through her arm and stayed there. "Ah!" She yelled in pain, and shot a powerful energy blast at him in retaliation. The boy had a few bruises from hitting the floor, but he was fine. The mystic guard looked dead.

"Are you ok?" He asked in concern. "More guys come!" She looked around quickly. "Go there!" She pointed at the desk, where Juanito scrambled to cover. Namale used the same technique the guard had used on her. Waiting behind the cover of the walls just beside the openings of the building, she took the enemies by surprise with energy blasts as they came in one-by-one. She defeated three mystics that way.

"Is that all of them?"

"Some guys... maybe guys is there."

"Where?"

"There," she pointed to the main building in the fortress, a two-story house.

"Is one of them the mayor? He was captured."

"Ok. Maybe mayor and bad guy."

"But are you gonna be ok with that arrow in your arm?"

"Nah, ow!" She tried to pull it out, but it hurt terribly with the slightest tug, so she gave up. She imagined that later Ruby would get someone to painfully extract it. "Is ok," the girl insisted and so they moved on.

"Guy has gun?"

"I don't know. Bust the door open with a blast." Namale did as Juanito suggested and blew up the front door of the main house without putting herself in the frame.

"Who's there?!" She heard a male voice and heavy footsteps. "Show yourselves, you pathetic dogs!" Namale heard a sound like scraping metal. The final guard came out of the door, but he weilded his sword with his left hand, and went for the defensless human child first. He shouted and tried to run out of the way while the girl jumped on his back. Luckily, it was her left hand that was not wounded, so she was able to catch the enemy's arm with relative ease. However, the mystic bent his elbow backwards. Namale was forced to drop off of him for fear of getting stabbed. On her way down, the mystic kicked backwards with his leg, hitting her middle.

Namale landed with her right arm smacking against the ground, causing her to yell in pain. "Hello? What's going on out there?" The voice of an older man came from inside the large entrance room. The mystic deemed the girl the greater threat and so he turned around and kept going after her. "Watch out!" Juanito yelled. "Is that Juanito?!"

"Mr. Carmen?"

"What are you doing out here? You could be killed!" Namale had no time to pay attention to the conversation. The mystic's sword was quite dangerous looking and she was starting to feel cornered as she dodged the swipes. She used her energy to fly up from the ground and shoot a good energy blast at him from a safe distance. The speed and power of her blast overwhelmed him, but Namale was not sure it was enough to finish him off, so she flew forward and kicked him twice in the head.

Mr. Carmen gasped in surprise when the guard's body came flying through the open doors and skidded to a halt on the ground. "Eek! What's going on? Who-who are you?"

"That's Namale. She's super strong. She beat up all the guys here."

"R-really? This little girl did?" Namale walked up to the mayor who was behind bars in a jail cell. She was slightly out of breath. She tried to pry the metal bar away with both hands, but the strain on her right arm muscle was painful and she yelped and fell on her butt. "You have to find the key for the door!" Juanito explained. "What is key?"

"Maybe the guard has it." The guard stirred as Juanito searched his pockets. "Eep!" Namale hopped over and gave him a good kick to make him stop moving. Juanito used the key to free Mr. Carmen. "You are hurt! We need to get you back to the village, now!"

"Where is mines?"

"You can't go to the mines now! Let's get your arm fixed up before you jump back into action! Please, come back to town with us."

Namale was backing up, imagining how it would hurt to have the arrow taken out of her arm, and weighing her options. Just then, she sensed a familiar energy nearby. "Ah! I feel bad guy! Must go now!"

"Come back, girl!"

"Namale!"

"Oh, dear... I wish there was an adult to help her, but you and I will probably just get in the way. The best we can do is go back and tell the others what happened."

"Heey!" They heard another female voice coming towards them. A red haired woman drove up in an open-roofed car. "Are you that little kid who flew off with Namale?"

"Who's that?" Mr. Carmen asked.

"She was with Namale before. I forgot her name."

"It's Ruby, you punk!" _I forgot his name too, though_, she thought to herself. "Anyways, did you guys see where she went?"

"The little girl you call Namale apparently defeated all the hostiles at this fortress. She said something about sensing a bad guy and flew off towards the mines. She was hurt, too."

"Ugh, that idiot always flies away without listening to anyone!"

"W-wait, what do you think you're going to do?" Mr. Carmen yelled after Ruby as she jumped into her car and zoomed off. "Did she say something about her friend being a poor listener?"

"I hope she remembers to find my brother, Diego."

"Eh?! Your brother went to the mines?" he asked, shocked.

* * *

><p>"Well, here's the mountain. Is the dragon ball on top? Or maybe I need to go inside... What is this, a mining entrance? I'll try using this radar," Cynthia was fiddling around with the radar she stole from Ruby. She had the four dragon balls in her pouch. She almost missed it, when a foul scent of body odor hit her nose, and she sensed the energy of a creature behind her.<p>

The thief tumbled to the side, and whirled around to face her attacker. A fearsome blue guard had just tried to swing at her with a sword. Cynthia quickly drew her dagger and paced around the tall enemy. It was not that difficult of a battle... she simply waited for the mystic to attack, and counterattacked, She disarmed, tripped, and stabbed him.

"Phew, ok. Now to check out this radar," Just as she was about to turn on the radar again, and faced the entrance to the mines, she suddenly ducked and avoided a kick to the head by a familiar saiyan rival. "Shit."

"Thief take Ruby balls! Give back!"

"Come and get it, twerp!" Cynthia held the radar away from Namale with her tail. They fought some, but Namale had somehow gotten a bit stronger than Cynthia since they last fought, and the blows she landed took a lot out of Cynthia. Before she got beat up too badly, the blonde raised her hands suddenly saying, "Wooah, time out, time out!"

"Nah? Thief give thing back?"

"Now hold on just a second, hun. Ruby told me there was a dragon ball up in this mountain here."

"Ball here?"

"You didn't know?"

"Nah, I go fight. Help weak guys."

"So, you're a regular goody gum drop, aren't ya. Maybe we should work together. You've got an arrow in your arm, you know. It's not that smart to go in alone. You can sense the enemies inside, can't you."

"Nn... I feel guys. Strong guys in mine, yes."

"So, whaddaya say?"

"Ok... Nah have things!" she insisted, holding her hand out.

"Fine, fine, I'll call it a truce. Have 'em back," Namale warily stepped forward. "I'll put the balls in your backpack, it's fine." The child turned and hoped she was telling the truth. Cynthia dumped the four dragon balls into Namale's magenta backpack, and put the radar in her hands. Then, without warning, she grabbed the arrow head sticking out behind Namale's arm and pulled hard. "NYAAAAAH!" Cynthia got a full-on punch in the eye for that. "Wait up, squirt!" She got up and ran after the girl who ran off into the mines.

"So, turn on the radar, let's see where the ball is!" Namale pouted at her. "First is beat up bad guys," she insisted.

"Oh, you don't be such a smart-ass..."

"Nyah!" She held the radar away from Cynthia.

"Hey, lemme see!"

"No grab!"

"Who's there?!" A male voice echoed from the tunnel ahead. The girls froze and heard heavy footsteps approaching. The child got into a fighting stance and stepped back as a big blue guard came out from behind a corner. "Thief?!" Namale looked behind her to find the rogue girl missing. She felt a burst of energy and heard a squelching sound in front of her and whirled back around quickly. "Nah!" The guard stood slack in front of her, then fell face-forward to the ground, with Cynthia and her blade on top of its upper back. Namale backed up a pace and regarded her with suspicion. "Cheers, cupcake. Well, you're the leader."

"Caw!" Namale jumped when she noticed the crow that sat on her shoulder. She hesitated, but continued on.

They came up to a ledge where there were some natural columns and holes in the cave wall overlooking a lower area.

"Guys there."

"Shh!" The girls watched from cover. Some human miners were being yelled at by their mystic overseers.

"10 humans, 4 mystics," Cynthia whispered. "More guys that way," Namale imitated her whisper, pointing to a tunnel across the chamber.

"Line up, men!" A nasty overseer was shouting over a group of dirty miners. He wore no shirt, grimey ripped cargo pants, spiked wrist bands, and carried a barbed whip, which he cracked wickedly, scaring the shit out of the workers who stood rigid. "Now, step forward, one at a time, and bring me all the gems that you found. We're starting from this end. You! Step forward! Come on!"

A typical looking man in his 30s walked up with a small pan of sapphire stones. "Pour them into the bowl." The overseer instructed. "10 grams, alright. You can go." The blue man poured the raw blue gems into a designated tray.

"Next! What is this shit? Go to the back of the line and pick the gems out of the rocks, you pathetic worm!" The overseer punched the older teen in the face.

"Y-yessir!" The unfortunate young man scrambled to gather his gems from the ground, and get back into the line.

"Next! 1 gram? Stand over there!" The process continued until all the miners had turned in their gems. Four individuals stood off to the side as designated by the overseer.

"You men are all worthless worms, not good for even the simplest of manual labor. But _you_, pathetic brat, were the worst of all." He closed in on a boy no older than 14. He had tanned skin and brown hair, and looked very frightened. ".5 grams of blue gems is not even worth your pathetic life. But I know you humans are worthless when you're small, so how's about this, Imma show you what we'll do to you if you don't get better gems in a few years!" He grabbed the old man standing next to him by his graying hair, and tossed him away from the groups of miners. "Grandpa!" The boy cried. "QUIET!" The mystic brandished his whip and raised it to strike. Cries of agony were heard throughout the cavern.

Namale clenched her fists hard. Even though the stress made the wound on her left arm bleed more, she couldn't help it. "Happy thoughts, kid. Don't go down there."

"Uh, Greysh, is someone up sneaking up there?"

"Not now, Darkee!" The mystic whipping the man snapped at his coworker.

"Shhh!" Cynthia put a hand on Namale's shoulder. Just then, an unexpected newcomer came out of nowhere and kicked the offending mystic hard in the head. "Yaah!" A young boy around 13 or 14 years old skidded to a stop, crouching low to the ground.

"What the- the hell are you, you stupid kid?! You wanna die?"

"I'm Diego, the guy that's gonna kick your asses!"

"Hahaha, that's funny kid. Hey, Darkee, get rid of this-AH!" the kid jumped and kicked him in the face while he was talking. "I've seen enough, I don't need to hear anymore of your babbling! I'm gonna send you and your bad guys out of our village once and for all! HAAH!" He leaped forward and delivered a flurry of kicks and punches to Greysh until he lay on the ground, unconcious or dead. The other mystic known as Darkee stepped forward. The other two guys behind him followed. "You're a real idiot, you know that shorty?"

"H-hah?" The three mystics rounded on the human fighter. "No, Diego, get out of there! You're just making it worse!" The beaten old man on the ground cried. "Grandpa, don't move!"

"You guys run back to the village, I'll hold these guys off."

"We won't make it, there's an army out there! You're gonna get us all killed!"

"But, I-"

"Hey kid, you should listen to adults more." The mystics smirked and ganged up on Diego. A few of the miners made a move as if to help him, since their numbers were technically superior. However, the miners were all quite weak, so the amount of them made no difference when Darkee quickly turned to them and sent a wave of energy knocking them all back. Some of them hit their heads on rocks and walls and got a bit injured. Three-on-one, the mystics were beating up the fighter. "Diego!" The other boy his age shouted.

The shrill cry of the crow echoed through the dim cavern. Two newcomers appeared and kicked two of the mystics in their heads, knocking them back from Diego for a second. The smaller of the two dashed in a rush of black hair into the third mystic, Darkee, and grabbed his face. "Guah!" The blue man shouted as he was flown back and thrown with a burst of energy, similar to what he had just done to the civilians moments ago. The newcomers took a stance slightly in front of the bruised Diego. He felt a rush of hope and hopped back to his feet. Together, the rushed forward and started fighting the mystics. Cynthia focused on the one to the left who had a sword. She leaped at him, avoiding a slash and countering by slamming her heeled boot into his hand. Her left hand came up and guided his face into her knee. While he was reeling in pain, Cynthia ducked and picked up the sword in her left hand, drawing her dagger with her right.

Namale punched her opponent, but he blocked her punch and grabbed her arm. She was turned a bit, but she could still hit him with her tail and got him to let go. He went on the offensive and punched her, making her block with her arms, but he hit her left arm. "Ah!" She yelled in pain, leaned backwards and kicked him hard in the groin. "Ow!" He yelled. She used a burst of energy and rammed her head into his stomach with all her might. He hit the ground, threw up blood, and then passed out. "Ah!" The human boy was not in a good condition to be fighting Darkee, who held him up by the neck. As he tried to loosen the fingers that were strangling him, suddenly Cynthia attacked him from behind, slashing his back with the sword, then spinning around and stabbing him with her smaller blade. "Caw!" Her pet knew the fight was over and hopped back onto her shoulder.

"Hey, humans! The way out's clear, just so ya know."

"You defeated all the mystics?!"

"Only one guy there," Namale was pointing to the wall. Somewhere in a passage behind there, a mystic or human was lurking.

"You folks can go back to your village. We have this taken care of," Cynthia said.

"Alright, thank-you for saving us!"

"Come back and visit if you need anything!"

"Give Nah food?" Namale asked. Cynthia grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. She winced a bit. "You guys should go on ahead, it's still dangerous here. You too, kid." She nodded at Diego. She rounded on the younger saiyan. ´"Where's the dragon ball already? Aren't you going to go get it?"

"Uh..." she was not sure what to say. They heard some voices towards the entrance. "Excuse me, miss. It's dangerous up ahead. There are some warriors clearing out the mines." "Excuse me, I know them. Let me through please."

"Ruby?" Namale perked up. Cynthia sneered in suspicion. "Lemme see this... ah!"

"Huh?" Namale looked at her. She was holding the radar. When did she get it?

"You have four balls here... the next one is hundreds of kilometers away! You tricked me!" she turned on Ruby.

"What if I did? You guys are both alive, you should be thanking me."

"You sent me to this dump in the first place! It's due to my own sense and skill that we are alive! Your wild brat is a little lacking in that area!"

"Shut up, aren't you supposed to love fighting? Relish the challenge like a true saiyan!"

"Don't talk as if you know me!"

"Oh yeah, what's there to know?!"

"Caw!"

"Ruby!" Namale pushed her out of the way as one last enemy came out of the tunnel nearby and was going to strike the human girl from behind. While Namale was busy covering Ruby, Cynthia brandished both her blades and leaped at the mystic, but he was a brute with a big spiked club that knocked her and her blades back all at once. The weapon hurt and gave her a bunch of scratches on her face and body. Namale darted under him and latched onto his arm, biting him and getting him to drop the club. Cynthia shot an energy blast that hit the big blue warrior in the middle, not running him through, but burning off a few centimeters of flesh. He roared in pain and doubled over. The smaller saiyan avoided being crushed under him and kicked him in the side of the head, which put him out of his misery.

During the final scuffle, Ruby salvaged the dragon ball radar that Cynthia had dropped on the ground.

"Thief lady... ok?" Namale walked up to her. Cynthia was pissed and smacked away her hand. Her crow flew on to her shoulder and cawed at them. She put her hand around its back and dashed out of the cave ahead of the miners who jumped in surprise.

"I don't understand that lady..." Diego remarked.

"Don't worry, neither do we!" Ruby and Namale came walking up next to him.

* * *

><p>"You young people these days are always running off and putting yourselves and others in danger! Have some sense, and learn your limits, or you're never gonna make it to my age!"<p>

The town's mayor, Mr. Carmen was lecturing Diego and Juanito. Namale escaped the confusing scolding and went straight for the feast that was being held in celebration of the town's liberation. "This siege has been hard on us, both in material... and human costs."

"Mr. Carmen, have your people been killed by the mystics here?"

"Yes, we lost a big battle with them a month ago. Many of our brave young men perished before we surrendered, and that still did not save some others from dying from the inhuman treatment in those mines," he explained sadly.

"I'm sorry," Ruby didn't know what else to say. "Don't be sorry, miss. We are forever in your debt. It will be hard, but we are a tight community and I have faith that we can rebuild our town now that those monsters are gone. Are you sure you don't need anymore payment?"

"Be careful what you offer, or that girl will eat you out of house and home," she said, looking over to where Namale was. "Hey! Stop giving her alcohol!" She looked up and shouted over.

"By the way, that blonde saiyan may have helped you this time, but she's a thief, so don't be too naive if you see her again."

"Ah, ok." Ruby walked over to Namale and tapped her on the shoulder. Namale finished eating a pork steak and licked her fingers while looking up to see what the redhead wanted. "Come over here for a sec." Away from the townsfolk, she explained.

"I've been thinking... Maybe I should use the wish to do something good."

"Mm,"

"I could wish for this town's men who were killed in the conflict to come back to life."

"Mm,"

"Maybe I should just use it for myself after all... I'm sure there are others in the world who need help that we'll never find."

"Mm,"

"But then, we may as well just help who we can anyways. If everyone else in our position thought that helping was in vain, then no one would ever get helped."

"Nah."

"I guess with the wish thing, I was just hoping I could make some exciting change in my life. But travelling around with you, I guess I already got it! It's been kind of fun!"

"Nah?"

"I mean, besides getting robbed by that blonde bimbo..."

"Haha! Ruby nice! Find more dragon balls big fun!"

"Yeah, let's do it!"

"Hey, you girls! Don't run away from the party! Come on, let's have a round!" The townsfolk interrupted their conversation and dragged them back for more food and hanging out. Namale remembered she was still hungry and bounced back to where the food was, and Ruby followed with a contemplative smile.


	9. Chapter 9

The actual next dragonball was up in the mountains. When the road ended, the girls got out and hiked up further on foot. They hugged themselves as the temperature got colder with altitude. They approached a cave. The saiyan stepped forward and put a hand out, signalling the teenager to stop walking. "Guy in there," she said, furrowing her brow.

Ruby used her scouter to check the cave. "They're pretty strong. Hope they're friendly."

"Nah..." The girls were concentrating on analyzing the inside of the cave. They didn't notice what came up from behind them. Namale sensed it and whirled around at the last second, but not fast enough to see what slammed into her head with tremendous force. She flew across the land and slammed into a tree trunk. The force of it splintered the trunk and it fell over behind her. "Namale!" Ruby cried out, worried for her. _Shit, if that was me, I'd be dead right now!_ She looked up at what had assaulted them and froze up in fear.

A 9-foot-tall troll turned towards her. It had crooked yellow teeth, bluish-gray skin, and a bit of matted gray hair that was covered in grease. It wore a shaggy loincloth, and smelled pleasantly of food waste. It was unarmed, but but its massive arms looked dangerous enough. The troll inhaled deeply, and produced a rumbling groan that echoed throughout the damp woods, and seemed to cause the temperature to drop noticeably. Ruby finally could not hold back a scream, which prompted the troll to attack her. She fell to the ground and covered her head with her hands. Her death did not come; when she raised her head, Namale was holding the troll's fist, braced against the ground. As Ruby crawled away from the fight, the saiyan shoved the troll's fist away with a shout.

Namale dodged the monster's powerful swipes, and kicked it in the head with enough force to knock it over. She braced herself for another round as it got back up, unphased. Again, she jumped and hit its chin with her fists, knocking it over. When it got up again, she started to get nervous. She attacked it furiously, avoiding its fist and kicking it in the face again. She followed it down and kept punching it, trying to do more damage to it. The troll roared in anger and grabbed her around her tiny upper body with both its hands. Only one of Namale's hands was free. She used her free hand and her tail to try and hit the creature's fingers, but its grip was cutting off her airway.

"Nnyah!" she gasped. She charged up a powerful ki blast in her hand, and shot it straight at the troll's hair. Its hair lit on fire, causing it to panic and drop Namale. She shot more blasts at its chest, and crotch, setting its greasy skin on fire. It turned into a blazing bonfire. The girls backed up, holding their noses as it fell to the ground, dead.

"Uh... wow." Ruby hesitantly stepped around the troll. "I think we'll be fine with whatever's _inside_ the cave." Namale nodded.

The girls found a mountain bandit inside who went down in one swift blow. They came out with the dragon ball, and found Cynthia and her crow pecking at the remains of the troll. "What?" she snapped.

"Food in cave," Namale said through a mouthful of banana, carrying a bowl of fruits.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>"<em>Sigh<em>, is there any way you can_ not_ get your clothes ripped, torn, or covered in blood and dirt every three days?"

"Nah?"

"I guess we'll go get a hotel in the city."

"Yaaay!"

The hotel offered complimentary breakfast, so Ruby had Namale hid her tail under her clothes when they checked in. The receptionist raised an eyebrow at the child with spikey black hair, covered in battle bruises and troll fat.

"That child looks like a saiyan."

"Well... she's not."

"Okaaay... I just work here."

"Right."

After bathing, Namale found the hotel pool where there were also other travelling children to play with. The parents yelled at her for swimming naked and then when she came back with underwear on, they yelled at her for flying around with their children on her back. The next morning, they were chased out, of course, after the saiyan child devoured the breakfast buffet, including all the little packets of jelly to go.

* * *

><p>They needed to go across the ocean to the next continent, so Ruby turned in the car at another location of the same rental company. Namale flew Ruby the rest of the way to the airport. It was very boring waiting for the flight time. The little saiyan got yelled at by a security officer for flying in the halls. Once they got on the plane, Namale wouldn't sit still.<p>

"Naaaaah! Plane is booooring! Why glass don't open? I want fly outside..."

"Excuse me, miss," Ruby addressed the blonde-haired stewardess walking down the isle. "Can you get my friend a packet of crayons or something?"

"Of course, ma'am!" She returned after a minute with a package of cheap crayons and a few sheets of white printer paper.

"Yaaaay!" Namale cried and went straight to work drawing.

* * *

><p>"Plane is done!" Namale pushed past all the people in the plane, running around, just happy not to be sitting anymore. "Namale!" Ruby yelled at her angrily. When she caught up to her in a few minutes, she lectured, "You can't just push past everyone like that! You knocked over a bunch of old people, too!"<p>

"Nah?" She was looking around, concentrating on something. "Thief go with us close here?"

"She may have followed us somehow. Have you tried sensing her crow instead?"

"Crow small bird. Much birds all places."

"Well, let's have you carry the dragonballs. Put them close on your body in the front, like this." She tied them to her belt in a little sack.

"I protect balls!"

"D-don't shout that so loudly!"

"Let's go! Where ball?"

"Ah! It's all the way out in the northwest. We'll have to take a train there!"

"Nah?"

* * *

><p>The saiyan child kneeled on her seat on the train, pressing her face against the window. She swished her tail back and forth impatiently. She let out a big sigh and flicked her tail to the left, where it hit the metal pole with a loud "clank". Ruby grabbed her shoulder, "Stop that, you're going to hurt someone!" She turned around and slumped unhappily in the seat, kicking her legs back and forth. A pair of high school girls sitting across from her looked at her nervously.<p>

In the middle of the bustling daytime subway station, two men in black suits stood near a corner, watching the arrivals. One was tall, broad, and mostly bald, except for a small lock of dark blonde hair on his forehead. The other was thinner, about average height, clean shaven with dark brown wavy hair. Both men wore dark black sunglasses. They stood and watched the sea of dark hair flow out of the arriving train platforms.

"Hey Andy! I just beat my score on Candy Crunch!"

"Pay attention!" the smaller man knocked the larger one's scouter out of his hand. As he sulked and picked it up, trying to find out if it was broken, Andy pulled him up by the collar. He took off his shades and put on his own pink-screen scouter, activating its power search function. It gave a little series of beeps. Suddenly, a voice-over came in through the earpiece.

"Andy, come in!"

"Yes, Val-sama, what is it?"

"According to my radar, the dragon balls are coming in on the east side of the station!"

"I'm there. I got one combat-level reading coming in at platform 5. You watchin', Rocky?" The man nodded, and they scanned the crowd.

"Andy, check out that saiyan kid!" He whispered.

"Where?"

"Next to the girl with the bright red hair."

"They look like travellers, it's probably them!" The girls did not realize they were being watched, and turned to the left, going up the escalator.

"Hurry up and follow them!" Came the voice from the scouter."Follow them outside and get me those dragon balls!"

"Yes, Val-sama!" The thugs, Andy and Rocky answered.

"Val, out!" he announced, and the transmission of the scouter ended.

* * *

><p>Ruby checked the timetable in the station for the next train to the Touhoku region. "Eeeh, no more train! So bad!" Namale groaned.<p>

"Cheer up, kid. It's just a while longer. We can take a break and go get lunch."

"Yaaay!"

The area they left the train station was a tourist area, so the streets were lined with vendors of popular street foods. Ruby went to stand in line while Namale sat at the table. She held her magenta backpack in her lap.

"I think they would leave the dragon balls with the one who can fight. They're probably in her backpack," Andy reasoned.

"Ok, so let's go get it!"

"Hold on, I'll do the talking, and you sneak in and grab it when the opportunity comes up." He took off his sunglasses and hooked them on his front pocket.

"Good afternoon, young lady!" he greeted the child in english, wearing a salesman's smile.

"Hi!" she replied back. "I is Namale."

"My name is, uh... Fuji. Would you like to participate in a brief survey on Japan's trains?"

"Trains is bad!" she frowned.

"Er, excuse me?"

"I don't like trains!"

"Oh, no... why is that? You know, a lot of little kids your age love trains!"

"No! Trains is boring, very quiet. Train go loooong long time."

"Alright, and what do you think of the cleanliness on board the trains? Here, why don't you put down your backpack, make yourself more comfortable..."

* * *

><p>Ruby was walking back with plates of grilled chicken when she spotted the young man in a suit talking to Namale. The man finished talking to her and dissapeared into the street crowd. Ruby slammed the plates down onto the table.<p>

"Namale, who was that guy?! He was so... hot! Did you get his name? Where he lives?!"

"Uh... guy called Fuji..." she scratched her head, trying to remember. "Huh? Where pink bag?" She shook her head quickly, looking around her.

"Oh no! Some thief must have swiped it while you were talking to the babe."

"Thief took bag! I go!" The child took off into the air. "No wait! We should stay together! Your stuff doesn't cost that much to replace, you still have the most important thing on you!" Ruby yelled. "I wish she would stop doing that!"

Ruby huffed and grabbed a piece of the chicken to eat, while looking around her. "Huh, well in the mean time..." She stood up and quickly crossed the street. She gasped when she saw Fuji standing and talking to a certain familiar girl.

"So, where did you say you were from?"

"Ah-I-uh, I grew up in Kyoto," he answered quickly trying to end the conversation.

"That's so interesting, ahaha! I'm from New Mexico! Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Well, no but-"Oh, that's great! We should go out for some coffee, or would you like to go out for sushi instead? I'll treat ya!" she winked.

"Cynthia! What are you doing?" Ruby spoke up and confronted her.

"Huh? It's you. None of your business," her eyelids lowered in a haughty look, and she placed her hand on Fuji's arm in a ladylike fashion.

"Fuji, you don't want to get involved with that girl, trust me! She's a-mmmph!" Ruby struggled ineffectively against Cynthia's hand over her mouth. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"Mmmmph, mmmm!" Ruby reached up and pushed Cynthia's hat off, causing Crow to flutter up and perch a road sign.

"How dare you!" she hissed, and pushed Ruby away roughly.

"A THIEF!" the redhead yelled. Cynthia's eyes widened, but she quickly regained her composure. A few pedestrians nearby looked up when they heard that.

"Wow, I can't believe you," she said with an indignant frown. "I'm so sorry about this, Fuji! This woman is really despicable... she's always bullying me and accusing me of bad things that she does!" Cynthia stood at Fuji's side and wrapped her tail around his waist. "Eep!" He jumped a little at her forwardness. "Come on, let's leave her here!" She winked.

"Did someone say something about a thief?"'

"I don't know, I didn't see anything."

"Wait, my wallet is missing!"

"Mine too!"

Ruby groaned and started getting up off the ground, when she felt an unfamiliar weight in her pants. She gasped when the wallets of two strangers fell out of her pockets as she stood up. "That _bitch_..."

"HEY! That's my wallet!" a teenage girl in a private school uniform stomped up and grabbed her wallet off the ground. "Who's is this?" she called, holding up the other one. "That's mine! Thank-you, miss," said a businessman in his 40s. He grabbed Ruby by the arm as she stood up. "Hey you, young lady! You are really terrible, stealing people's things!" he said angrily. Ruby was scared that no one would believe that she was set up. She was looking around for some help.

"Look here, I'm talking to you! Yeah, you are not going to run anywhere now, I'm going to turn you in to the police."

A police officer came up, led by the high schooler. "That's her. She's a pickpocket."

"N-no, wait! It wasn't me!"

"Put your hands behind your back. You're under arrest. You don't have to say anything, but anything you choose to say can be used against you in a court of law."

"NAMALE HELP ME!"


	10. Chapter 10

Namale stood on the edge of a roof, scanning the streets. She jumped off the edge of the roof, and flew down pretty gently onto the sidewalk. It looked much faster to the untrained eye, and people around her were startled for a second, before they shrugged and continued about their business. She was looking around, trying to remember which direction she came from. "Nah?" Every building looked the same, every car and every person too. The smells of dozens of different foods clouded her senses. Then she heard Ruby's voice echoing through the streets.

"Ruby!" she cried happily, and ran towards her friend's voice. She skidded around the corner.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me! It was that blonde girl, she's a damn trickster!"

"You can explain to the detective, miss. If you continue to struggle, I'll have to charge you with resisting arrest... huh?" he looked behind him over his shoulder. There was a commotion, and people were yelling and moving around. Ruby could only face forward. "What the..." he squinted his eyes as the crowd of pedestrians parted for a small figure that was barrelling through at the speed of a motor vehicle. He too, acted on instinct and dived out of the way to avoid the small child. She grabbed Ruby, and jumped up the city buildings onto the rooftops. She would have screamed, but the wind was knocked out of her from the force of the blow. Namale ran and jumped across three more buildings. "Ok Ruby?"

"_Cough, cough_, I am, no thanks to you! You need to be more gentle, my body can't handle the same force as yours!"

"Nah..." Namale drew her hand back, feeling bad that Ruby was mad at her.

"The cops are after us now. We'll have to hurry up and get out of this area."

"Nah fight cops!"

"It doesn't work like that, hun. The cops are part of the government. If you hurt them that makes you a bad guy."

"Huh? Don't get..."

"Yeah, well, we're gonna have to skip lunch and get going now."

"Skip lunch?" She imagined she would have to skip while eating.

"Sneak down that alley over there, then we'll walk north to the next train station. We'll get caught if we use the one right here. Hide your tail, too." Ruby pulled her bright red hair into a bun and put on a hat.

Ruby held on tight to Namale's hair and closed her eyes as the child hopped down the fire escapes to the ground without flying. She picked her hat off the ground and put it again. They sprinted forward, then walked normally through the city until Ruby nodded towards a subway entrance. The girls tried their best to look normal as they bought tickets and boarded the train. They sat down in an empty spot and let out a big sigh of relief.

* * *

><p>Choco soared above the Japanese metropolis. He followed the subway line as it emerged above the surface and led out into a more suburban area. He was following some information on his scouter when a picture message popped up.<p>

"What the hell, Syra!"

"It's so cuute!"

"I'm trying to work here! You can show me that later!"

"Ok, but the train's getting ahead of you just so ya know..."

"What?!"

He braced his body and put out a sudden burst of speed to help him catch up to the train. He grabbed onto the side ladder and took a minute to catch his breath.

"You're there! The dragon balls are somewhere on the train."

"I _know_."

Choco climbed up on top of the train. He used his scouter to scan for any unusual power levels and found one higher than normal, so he crawled over two train cars until he was on top of it.

* * *

><p>Ruby took Namale to the food car on the train, but the child only had time to eat two hot dogs before some trouble found them again.<p>

"Hn?"

"What's up?"

"Guy on top."

"The thief?"

"Nah..."

"Look! There's a dragon ball above us!"

"Ball?!"

"Someone must have gotten the one in Asia, and now they're coming for ours!"

* * *

><p><em>What's this pink guy doing here?<em> Cynthia looked hesitantly at him from her vantage point on the roof. _Is he looking for the dragon balls too? Does he have a radar?_ She saw his hand drift over something in his pocket. The movement was enough for her to guess a small spherical object. _It must be. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise._ She put her crow on the ladder between the cars, and silently crept up the roof. She jumped on the stranger and covered his mouth with one hand, and used her tail to hold his arm behind his back in a painful manuever that forced him to his knees. She used her free arm to toss his scouter off the train, and take the dragon ball out of his pocket.

Back in the car, Namale jumped to her feet and stared straight at the ceiling. "Thief there!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Up is two guys! Nah go up!" She jumped up and slammed into the ceiling. Ruby gawked as the child hit her head and fell back down into the aisle.

"How stupid are you, really?"

"Uh..." she rubbed her head.

"This way!" Ruby grabbed her arm and led her to the car junction. She pulled the emergency door-opening lever, and Namale darted up the side of the car.

"Mmmmmph!" The young man tried to attack Cynthia with his tail, which did not hurt her that much. She released his arm and punched him in the side of the head. His vision blacked out and he was almost unconcious.

"I finally have one of them!" Cynthia put the dragon ball in her waist pouch.

Namale jumped up onto the roof of the train car, and saw a pink man who was not a human. He stirred only slightly as he looked injured. Namale felt around for the thief's energy, but she couldn't sense it. She figured she must be hiding somewhere obvious like the side of the train car, so she started running over to the other side of the car to look down between the cars, but the stranger started rolling off the train. She turned and darted towards him, grabbing his tail as he rolled over the side of the car. He gave a few noises of displeasure as he bumbed against the side of the train. Namale pulled him back up onto the roof.

"Ugh," he said, recovering and sitting up.

"Pink guy ok? See thief?"

"Yes. I was attacked by some kind of thief... No! She took my dragon ball!"

"Nah?! Pink get balls?"

"Are those the dragon balls?" His eyes fell on the pouch attached to her front.

"Nah and Ruby get balls."

"I can't understand what you're saying little girl. If you're with an adult I need to talk to them."  
>Just then, they heard a scream inside the train. "Ruby!" Namale hopped down and went to check on her friend. Choco made his way over to the side of the car and dropped down after her.<p>

"FREEZE! Nobody move a muscle!" Choco looked over the girl's spikey hair to see what was going on. The red-haired girl was being held hostage with a gun to her head. The perpetrator was a young human man with brown hair who was wearing a black suit and sunglasses. There were four other passengers in that car that were sitting still in fear. Namale twitched a bit and took a step forward. "Fuji?! Why Fuji hurt Ruby?!"

"_I said freeze!_ If anyone makes any sudden movements, I will shoot. If anyone tries to leave, I will shoot. If _anyone_ or _anything_ activates the emergency brake or calls the authorities,_ I will shoot her!_" he moved the tip of the handgun to Ruby's neck. "Aaah!" she wimpered and shut her eyes.

"Wh-what do you want?" Ruby asked.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe a nice icecream sundae? What the fuck do you _think_ I want? Give me the balls!"

"W-What balls? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about. The balls with stars in them. _Now,_" he began to squeeze the trigger. Ruby couldn't help screaming. "NO!" Namale yelled. "Stop, I give you guys!"

"Good girl," he smirked, and relaxed his grip on the gun. "Show me them." Namale looked a bit guilty as she untied the pouch of dragon balls and pulled out the two-star ball. Her eyes darted to a sudden movement behind the thug. Cynthia was sneaking up behind him, holding her knife. Just as she was about to strike, she lunged and a loud BANG was heard. Ruby and other passengers screamed in fright. The passenger sitting nearest to the hijacker was a large man in a suit. He had drawn a heavy handgun and shot Cynthia in the head. She dropped her dagger and fell down to the side. The bullet did not penetrate her skull, but it left a dent in her temple that knocked her out. Although circumstances now put her on the side of the good guys, Choco couldn't help feeling a small sense of payback. He immediately took it back when he saw the dragon ball she had stolen from him roll out of her pouch, which she had not zipped up yet. The larger man picked it up and pocketed it himself.

The newly revealed accomplice stood up from his seat and walked over to the fallen thief. He kicked her a few times, making sure she stayed down. The man holding Ruby said, "Good man. Alright, little girl. You know what you have to do. Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt."

Namale glared at him furiously. "Do what he says." The girl looked back at the stranger from the roof. "There's nothing you can do if he decides to shoot her. It could easily kill her." She clenched her fist around the bag of dragon balls and took a step forward.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Fuji warned. "Just put them down on the ground and go back to the entrance of the car. Slowly now!" The child did as he said, and walked over by Choco. Fuji nodded to his cohort as he picked up the bag and brought it back behind him. He put the one he got from Cynthia in there, too. "We got all six now, Andy!"

"Don't say my name, you buffoon!"

"Sorry..."

"Woman!" Fuji, who was really called Andy, yelled into Ruby's ear. "I know you have a radar for the treasures you've been gathering. Where is it?" The teenager could barely answer him properly because she was so scared. "Speak up!"

"It's in my backpack over there!" She shouted while shutting her eyes tightly. The big man quickly found the radar. "Here's a scouter, too."

"Good, get rid of it." The bald man obeyed and crushed it on the floor with his boot. The hijackers backed up towards the car's boarding area. They pulled Ruby all the way to the end of the car, before Andy shoved her to the ground, and the two criminals jumped off the train and ran into the woods.

"Namale, keep track of their energy!"

"Train go fast! Nah get off!"

"I can't just jump off the train like you!"

Choco grabbed her and hopped off the train after the saiyan child. "Eep, who the heck are you?!"

"I don't have much time to explain now... but I'm here to stop all of you kids."


End file.
